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N.H.S. ACT, 1946-MATERNITY SERVICES- (a) That having considered
the report of the Medical Officer of Health on certain of the recommendations of the
Maternity Services Committee under the Chairmanship of Lord Cranbrook, commended by the
Minister of Health for the early consideration of local health authorities, they recommend:-
(i) that the appropriate Officers of the Health Department participate in any local
professional maternity services liaison committee which may be formed for the purpose of
ensuring that local provisions for maternity care are used to the best advantage; and (ii)
that the Council's health services co-operate in the use of a Co-operation Record Card
(standardised for national use) if introduced, to be carried by the patient when visiting
a consultant, general practitioner, local authority clinic or midwife, which would enable
clinical information recorded thereon to be generally available.
(b) That they have received a request from the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital
Board for the views of the Council on the principles set out in the Cranbrook Report
referred to above, and for any proposals they have which might assist the Board in
assessing the need for maternity beds in hospital, which they have considered in the light
of a report of the Medical Officer of Health. Arising therefrom they recommend that the
following observations be sent to the Board:-
(i) The selection of patients for hospital beds should follow the principles
recommended by the Cranbrook Committee i.e., the careful selection of patients for
domiciliary and hospital confinements; appropriate booking arrangements to ensure that
patients requiring hospital confinements on medical or social grounds receive priority
over others, sufficiently flexible to allow for late bookings and emergency admissions;
and consultation with the local health authority over bookings on social grounds.
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(ii) The length of hospital stay after confinement should not nromally be reduced
below the ten days recommended by the Cranbrook Committee, at least without careful
consideration by the local professional maternity services liaison committee.
(iii) It is recognised that the overall provision of maternity beds should include
provision for patients needing ante-natal care, and it is also considered that this is
a matter which could appropriately be examined by the local professional maternity services
liaison committee when formed.
It is not yet possible to comment on the changes which implementation of the
"Cranbrook" recommendations may make in the local maternity services, but it is interesting
to note that the report suggests that "sufficient hospital maternity beds to provide for
a national average of 70 per cent of all confinements to take place in hospital should be
adequate to meet the needs of all women in whose case the balance of advantage appears to
favour confinement in hospital". In West Ham this level of hospital provision has been
exceeded for some years and this year 88 per cent of West Ham mothers were delivered in
hospital.
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