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47
It should be understood that the Maternity Home
is essentially a Home and not a Hospital, and cases in
which any abnormality is to be anticipated are not
admitted. The staff from the Maternity Home attend
twice weekly at the Ante-Natal Clinics to study antenatal
methods and to give the women an opportunity
of seeing beforehand the nurses who will be responsible
for them at their confinement. The advantage is
mutual.
We prepare trained nurses for the certificate of
the Central Midwives Board.
The following is a record of the work done during
the year 1931 :—
Cases admitted 211
Average duration of stay (days) 14
Number of cases notified as puerperal sepsis —
Number of cases notified as puerperal pyrexia 2
Number of cases notified as ophthalmia neonatorum
—
Number of cases of infectious disease —
Number of infants not entirely breast-fed while
in Institution —
Number of maternal deaths —
Number of foetal deaths (stillborn or within
ten days of birth) 6
Many cases entering the Home during the last
few years have been in for the second, third and even
fourth time. The fact of having had the same matron
since the opening of the Home is, in my opinion, a
great advantage, and many mothers have expressed
themselves as being glad to get into the Home for a
" holiday."
The minimum fee is £3 for the fortnight—the
normal duration of treatment in the Home. The
highest fee charged during 1931 was £8 8s. 6d. for the
two weeks, and the average fee charged was £4 9s. 1d.
The net cost per patient to the Council for the financial
year 1931-32 was £4 18s. 9d., equivalent to £2 9s. 4½d.
per week. This figure is high when compared with
that for last year owing to the addition of a new Baby
Room and various structural alterations at a total
cost of £257 9s. 9d.