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64
Institutional Confinements.
In registered nursing homes in this district 1,456 births occurred.
Of the 584 births to mothers from outside districts which occurred in
this area, 577 took place in maternity homes, 7 in private houses. In
1,123 of the 1,164 confinements attended by midwives, they were present as
maternity nurses.
Notifications were received of 1,765 births to Harrow mothers,
which took place outside the district. Of these, 1,530 were from hospitals
and 195 from maternity homes. Of the patients confined in hospitals
outside the district, 817 were delivered at Redhill County Hospital, 372
at Bushey Maternity Hospital.
Of a total of 3,882 births, 1,238 occurred in the patients' own homes,
879 in local nursing homes, and 1,765 in hospitals or homes outside the
district. Some 2,644, or 68 per cent, then, of the confinements took place
in institutions inside or outside the district.
POST-NATAL SERVICES.
Post-natal Examination.
Mothers recently confined are recommended to be examined some
six weeks after delivery. During the year 255 mothers attended.
Consultant Services.
Any of the consultants on the Council's panel, and the obstetricians
at Redhill Hospital are available to assist general medical practitioners
in difficulties at the confinement or in the post-natal period. This year
use was made of this service on ten occasions.
Puerperal Infection.
(a) Consultant Services : On only one occasion this year was the
consultant summoned on account of puerperal infection.
(b) Hospital Services : The admission to hospital of patients
suffering from puerperal infection, who need institutional treatment
is arranged by the Council at no cost to the patient, the patients being
admitted to the isolation hospitals of some of those authorities with
whom the Council has an arrangement for the acceptance of infectious
patients. During the year, 13 patients were admitted to hospital,
including five who had been confined in local nursing homes.
(c) Home Nursing : As some of the conditions causing puerperal
pyrexia are communicable, it is undesirable for a midwife, attending
such a patient, to attend to other maternity cases. By arrangement
with the District Nursing Association the nursing of such patients is
passed to suitably qualified nurses of the Association. The Association
also, on behalf of the Authority, undertakes the nursing of patients suffering
from such conditions as breast abscess, white leg, etc., occurring in the
nursing mother. Two patients notified as suffering from puerperal
pyrexia were nursed by the staff of the Association under these arrangements.
In addition, there were a further two cases of nursing mothers
whose nursing the staff of the Association undertook on behalf of the
Council.