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36
Maternity and Child Welfare.
as part of the general County Scheme, and are enumerated
hereunder:—
Maternity Hospital provision, or beds in a Hospital for
complicated cases of pregnancy, or for the treatment of
complications arising after parturition, whether in the mother
or the infant, and for cases where the home circumstances are
unsuitable for the confinement.
The provision for payment for skilled medical assistance
in the home in the case of necessitous women for whose
confinement a doctor has been called in by a midwife.
Home-helps in cases where a person is needed to look
after the home during the lying-in period, whether the confinement
takes place at home or in a hospital.
Convalescent homes for mothers and their infants.
Homes for widowed, deserted and unmarried mothers,
and for illegitimate children.
The County Council accept responsibility for charges incurred
in the provision of the above services provided that the charges are
reasonable and the parents contribute according to their means.
Further reference to the above will be found in the summary of
institutions, etc , available for the District given later in this report
and in the Annual Report of the County Medical Officer for Surrey.
Day Nursery. The Barnes and Mortlake Day Nursery, which
is supported by voluntary contributions, takes care, by day, of
infants and young children under the age of 5 years whose mothers
go out to work.
An account of the work of the Nursery will be found in the
report of the Voluntary Committee who manage it.
The Urban District Council make a contribution of £100 per
annum towards the cost of this Institution.
It is important to remember that it becomes difficult to prevent
the spread of infectious diseases where numbers of very susceptible
young children under 5 years of age are in frequent and close
contact. The younger the children the greater is the mortality
from these diseases, especially Measles or Whooping-cough: ninety