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Home Helps
There has been no alteration in the Home Help Scheme,
which is of great value to the mothers who have received help
from the Council in this way The Home Help — a woman
usually chosen by the patient subject to approval as a suitable
person by the Health Visitor—attends at the home from the date
of confinement and for fourteen days thereafter As the duties
of such a woman are purely domestic, she may be employed
whether the patient is confined in hospital or at her own home
It is an infringement of the Home Help rules if the woman undertakes
any of the duties, at the confinement, of a trained nurse
An expectant mother, indeed, is not eligible for such help unless
she has engaged a trained nurse to attend her at her confinement
either as a midwife or in conjunction with a doctor
The supervision of these Home Helps is carried out by the
Municipal Health Visitors : each suggested Home Help is visited
in her own home before being approved by the Health Visitor, and
if approved, is handed a printed list of her duties She is required
to notify the Medical Officer of Health not later than the day
following the confinement, in order that the Health Visitor may
get in touch with the case at an early date The Health Visitor
visits the home of the lyingin woman several times during the
14 davs to supervise the work of the Home Help
The assistance which this scheme gives to the poorer working
class mothers is of immense benefit : it affords the patient
herself an opportunity of longer convalescence : it ensures her
peace of mind, for she realises that her children are not neelected
and that the household duties are carried on as if she herself were
not for the time being laid aside
The total number of applications for Home Helps was 975,
of this number 761 were eligible, 149 were ineligible (ie did not
fall within the Council's scheme as regards income)
In 65 cases the applications were cancelled by the applicants
Supervision of Midwives practising in the Borough
The Supervisor of Midwives in the Borough is the Senior
Assistant Medical Officer for Maternity and Child Welfare (Dr
Helen Campbell)
During 1935, 89 midwives notified their intention to practise
midwifery ; at the end of the year it was found that 57 midwives
only were actually practising in the Borough This apparent discrepancy
is accounted for by the fact that a certain number of pupil
midwives practise for a short period from their training schools in
the Borough after passing the Central Midwives' Board examination
A large number of these midwives practise under the aegis of
one of the several training schools or nursing associations in the
neighbourhood The standard of midwifery is high ; there is no
difficulty for any patient in obtaining the services of a qualified
midwife, nor for any doctor obtaining a trained maternity nurse
to assist him in his midwifery cases
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