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98
owing to the restricted accommodation at present existing, and
further discussion was postponed for a year.
The Hounslow Hospital are not in a position to accept the
cases. The few cases of Puerperal Fever generally find their way
into the West Middlesex Hospital, but it was impossible to arrange
for any accommodation for cases of Puerperal Pyrexia. Personally
I am extremely averse to cases suffering from Puerperal Pyrexia or
even Puerperal Fever having to go through the machinery of the
Relieving Officer in order to get admission.
Puerperal Fever may be, and certainly can bp, dealt with as
an urgent case by the Medical Superintendent, and admitted on
his responsibility, and this is done in other places, and has the
sanction of the Ministry of Health. Every case of Puerperal
Pyrexia notified is a potential case of Puerperal Fever and in my
opinion should be regarded as an emergency, and there should be
no necessity for all the Poor Law machinery for the admission of
such cases to Poor Law Hospitals. I am as convinced as ever of
the value of a Consulting Obstetrician in the District. It has been
urged and will be urged that if a facility is provided it will create
a demand. Personally I hope it will, because in return for that I
can see the lives of many mothers infinitely improved. As I have
said previously the whole happiness centres round the mother, and
if the mother's health is undermined so that her work becomes a
burden, then the whole happiness of the family is at slake. It
affects not only the wife, it affects the husband; it affects the children.
If by preventing a number of these accidents which occur
during confinement, which has hitherto been regarded as the
necessary heritage of parenthood, and thus preserving homes from
the disability which arises from a fretful invalid, then much will
be done, particularly from the point of view of the care of the
children.
Similarly I am as convinced as ever of the importance of the
Ante-Natal Work being in the hands of an Obstetrician. Again it