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of cost. The sum collected from the sale of outfits was £5 17s. 8d.,
and the net cost to the Council was, therefore, £18 2s. 4d.
Arrangements for the Investigation of Maternal Deaths and cases
of Puerperal Fever and Puerperal Pyrexia.—In accordance with
Ministry of Health Circular 888, dated 23rd April, 1928, the Council
appointed Dr. Dorothy B. Gere to conduct enquiries into every
death in the Borough of women in childbirth.
In Circular 722, dated 9th August, 1926, relating to the Public
Health (Notification of Puerperal Fever and Puerperal Pyrexia)
Regulations, 1926, the Minister authorised the maternity and child
welfare authorities to make provision for the special treatment of
women suffering from Puerperal Pyrexia, for consultation with an
obstetric specialist, for skilled nursing and for institutional treatment.
Following upon the issue of this Circular, the Council has
appointed Lady Florence Barrett, M.D., M.S., Miss Margaret Basden,
M.D., F.R.C.S., and F. N. Reynolds, Esq., F.R.C.S., to act as
obstetric consultants.
Details of the use made of the Council's provision in this respect
during the past year appear on page 109 of this Report.
Consultants for Difficult Maternity Cases.—The Ministry of
Health has approved the arrangements proposed by this Council for
the calling in of Obstetric Specialists by medical practitioners in cases
of difficult labour, and has also approved the appointment of Lady
Florence Barrett, and Dr. Margaret Basden as her deputy.
The proposed fee is five guineas for each case, as in practically
every case operative assistance is required.
With regard to the recovery of cost or part cost from the
patient, as these cases are obviously emergency cases, general
practitioners and myself decide the payment to be made by the
patient according to the circumstances of the family, the patient
paying the family contribution direct to the Consultant and the
Council paying the balance of the fee, the circumstances of each
case being reported to the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee
for consideration and approval.
During 1933 the services of the Obstetric Specialists were
required by general practitioners in two cases.