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74
498 beds maintained at public expense for residents in Middlesex.
This number provides accommodation adequate for slightly over
35 per cent. of the total births in the County (based upon the figures
for 1935) without taking into account the additional 60 beds whose
allocation has not yet definitely been decided upon.
The accommodation of most interest to Wembley and to
Harrow is that at the Park Royal and the Redhill County Hospitals.
These institutions serve, in addition to these two districts, the
Boroughs of Hendon and Acton.
The main objections to the proposals of the County Council
are:—
1. The inadequacy of the accommodation. The requirements
are based on the 1935 figures. In such rapidly growing districts as
Wembley and Harrow, the demand for maternity beds grows from
year to year, and by the time the accommodation envisaged is
available for use it will prove insufficient. Further, the proposals
contemplate accommodation for the reception of 40 per cent. of
the confinements in the County. The number of beds proposed at
the Redhill and Park Royal Hospitals is insufficient to meet the
demand from the area these hospitals serve, and experience proves
that in Wembley and Harrow the demand for institutional accommodation
is well over 40 per cent.
2. The dissociation of this service from the complete maternity
and child welfare scheme. It is desirable, to ensure close co-operation,
that the whole of the maternity services should be provided by
the one authority. Such co-operation cannot be so close if the
arrangements for institutional confinements are provided by an
authority other than that responsible for the rest of the maternity
services. Provision of maternity beds in the hospitals of the County
Council will also prevent the patients admitted being attended by
their own medical attendants.
For these reasons both Councils desired to press for sanction
to erect a joint hospital but, by the end of the year, no further steps
had been taken to this end.
POST-NATAL SERVICES.
Post-natal Examinations.
97 women attended the clinics for post-natal examination,
making altogether 171 attendances.
A further four women were examined under the General Practitioner
Scheme.
As yet no separate session has been held for post-natal cases,
the women attending the ordinary sessions of the ante-natal clinics.