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Emergency Maternity Unit. There were no calls made on
this unit during the year under review.
Consultant Service. A specialist's opinion may be had in
cases of obstructed labour, emergencies in pregnancy, or
puerperal pyrexia.
Home Help Scheme. The extension of the Home Help
arrangements to make provision for cases outside the
Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme, such as aged and infirm
and cases of illness, which would not be eligible under that
scheme, did not bring the overwhelming demand anticipated
at the inception.
The Home Help staff during the year under review consisted
of one full-time employee and seven employed part-time
for as many hours as they were capable of giving. The work
is arranged and supervised by an organiser who combines this
work with duties under the Maternity and Child Welfare
Dental Scheme as Dental Attendant and Clerk.
In addition to the 35 maternity and child welfare cases,
of whom 30 were lying-in eases, 16 cases were dealt with under
the extended arrangements. Of this number 4 were in receipt
of this assistance from the inception of the scheme to the end
of the year.
While it can be claimed that no request for such assistance
when the need was urgent was left unaided, the re-arrangement
of the disposition of the staff was, at times, a matter of
considerable difficulty and emphasised the value and importance
of the work of the Home Help Organiser. Although for
the period covered by this report, recruiting of additional
staff was quite impossible, since then, however, the position
has been eased considerably.