[Report 1937] / Medical Officer of Health, Birmingham.

  • Birmingham (England). Council.
Date:
1937
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1937] / Medical Officer of Health, Birmingham. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    89/264 (page 73)
    Nursing Staff The following results were obtained in the examinations for the Nursery Nurses Certificates : Preliminary 7 sat and all passed Elementary 12 sat and all passed Advanced 5 sat and 4 passed City Maternity Home, Wake Green Road, Moseley. Beds, 47 This institution admits maternity cases and premature infants. The maternity cases are those who have no suitable accommodation in their own homes. The large private house, “Sorrento,” was handed over to the Public Health Committee in 1928, having previously been used as a hospital for disabled soldiers. A maternity home was urgently required, and it was decided to adapt the building for twenty maternity beds. The home was opened for this purpose in 1929. The following year the stable block was converted into an ante-natal clinic with an ante-natal ward above (ten beds), while later a new block was built to accommodate premature infants. In this block there is a ten-bed ward for infants and six single rooms for their mothers, with staff accommodation above. This building was opened in 1931. Since that date there has been no material addition to the institution. During 1937 the number of deliveries in the Home was the highest yet recorded. Of the 847 cases 810 were booked and thirty-seven were un- booked cases from the ante-natal ward. There was no case of puerperal septicaemia, although thirteen cases of mild pyrexia were notified. There was some increase in the number of cases of mastitis and a short special report is appended with a chart showing the incidence of the condition in relation to the special precautions taken as regards nasal swabbing and spraying. There were two maternal deaths, the one due to a toxic myocarditis and the second due to obstetric shock and haemorrhage. The premature baby ward has been well used. There has been an increase in the number of infants admitted, though the number of mothers admitted with the infants has somewhat diminished.