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52
Difficulties are often encountered by patients in obtaining
admission to hospitals in the neighbourhood. It is not desirable
for expectant mothers to have to book up at a hospital, where a
long journey has to be taken before admission. The number of
beds reserved by the Council are quite inadequate to accommodate
a sufficient number of cases. If a Municipal Maternity Home
could be provided locally, these defects could be overcome.
Mothers in East Ham who are under the care of the Nurses
of the Maternity Charity and District Nurses' Home, Plaistow, or
any of its branches, or of Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, attend
the Ante-natal Clinics in connection with those Hospitals. No
cases already under the care of private doctors are examined at
the White House Clinic, unless such patients bring to the Medical
Officer of the Clinic letters from their doctors requesting examination
for purposes of consultation.
Maternity Accommodation.
Under the provisions of the Maternity and Child Welfare Act,
1918, empowering Local Authorities to make arrangements for the
institutional treatment of complicated midwifery cases, and for
women whose homes are unsuitable for their confinement, the
East Ham Borough Council have arrangements for the accommodation
of necessitous cases requiring in-patient treatment, at
Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, and at the Maternity Charity
and District Nurses' Home, Plaistow.
During 1928, four cases thus provided for were confined in
Queen Mary's Hospital, and one at the Maternity Charity.