[Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Maidstone U.D.C. / Borough.

  • Maidstone (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Maidstone U.D.C. / Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Hospitals. All the hospitals in the area are now ad¬ ministered by the South-East Metropolitan Hospital Board and the Mid-Kent Hospital Management Committee and the consultant services have been expanded, with increased facilities lot X-ray examinations and laboratory investigations. Like othei hospitals in the country, the local hospitals have su lered lrom the shortage of nursing staff: full use of the avail¬ able beds has however been maintained and the Fant Lane Hos- pital has been used for cases other than infectious disease. Additional provision for orthopaedic cases is required and for a ong-tei m policy of hospital extension, there is ample space i ^int,on hospital. Full use has been made of the Maternity Ward at the West Kent Hospital and I still regret that when the Maidstone Corporation added this ward to the Hospital, the number of beds was not made greater. Births Notified during 1954. Live Births . 7S-, Still Births ... ... ... 20 The number of live births shows an increase over 1951 of ? and the still-births an increase of 2. Home and Domestic Helps. This is one of the services pro¬ vided by the County Council and has been of the areatest possible assistance in many cases. Many of the cases of chronic sickness the elderly infirm and disabled, are able to remain in their own familiar and loved surroundings, when, without this assistance from the home help service, the only possibility would be to seek a vacancy in the institutions and homes for the aged where there is already an enormous demand for places One of the most distressing duties which I am called on to per¬ form is the making of application for an order for the removal to an institution and for detention there of a patient unable to care for himself or herself and without kith or kin to ifive support or comfort in the last years of life, and, were it possible to provide small dwelling places for such old folk, equipped so as to involve the minimum of labour, and an extension of the home-help service to provide the requisite assistance, the necessity for many of these old citizens ending their life-span in institutions, could be avoided. The hospitals for the care of the sick, were formerly provided by the generosity of the com- mumty and benefactors were many: now that hospitals are piovided by the National Insurance scheme, a channel for the benevolence, which is natural in the British people and which