HEALTH MEASURES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19448, 6 November 1925, Page 10

HEALTH MEASURES

THE MATERNITY SYSTEM. WORK OF ST. HELENS’ HOSPITALS Discussing‘public health questions at an afternoon meeting in the Grey Lynn electorate last week the Hon. Mark Cohen, M.L.C., said that it was greatly to be regretted that some condidates had resorted to exaggerated statements, instead of applying themselves to an analysis of the recorded facts. As the outcome of the disclosures in the Kelvin maternity home case the Health Department had promptly set about to prevent its repetition, and the measures that had been taken would undoubtedly prove effective. In one quarter it had been asserted that there was an insidious attempt on the part of the Department to suppress the St. Helens’ Hospital, and to deny the benefits of these admirable institutions to the wives of the workers, for whom they were specially provided. Further, it was stated that the staffs were overworked, and that they had to pay their own tramway fare or motor hire when called on to attend outside cases of confinement. Every one of these averments was contrary to fact.

For the sake of better and more economic administration the policy of the Department had been to encourage the hospital boards to add maternity wards to their establishments, and Ju the big centres to take over the St. Helens establishment. But the element of compulsion docs not enter into the negotiations; these were being conducted on a purely voluntary basis. The Department, had wisely determined that in future all nurses should undergo a full four years 7 training, the last year being devoted largely to instruction in obstetrics. With this object in view Miss Moore, formerly matron of A | kland Hospital, was sent to England to study the best methods of midwifery in the great hospitals abroad, and on her return to the Dominion she would have charge of the instruction classes. In future no nurse could carry on her avocation, unless she possessed midwifery as well as a “general’ 7 certificate. By these means it was confidently hoped that these nurses when attending expectant mothers in the backblocks would be fully qualified to discharge every necessary duty, and may only have to requisition the services of a doctor when the unexpected happens.

“It is equally untrue, to say that any of the St. Helens Hospitals are understaffed, 77 continued Mr. Cohen, “or that there is paucity of girls offering as apprentices to the nursing profession. The increasing popularity of these institutions is such that plenty of suitable girls are offering; indeed, some nurses have had their names on the books for two years, but yet have had no chance of getting the necessary training as maternity nurses, for they all recognise that without a certificate of maternity competency no hospital board and no Government institution will employ them; and in the latter case those in charge are bound to give preference to the nurses who have gained maternity proficiency. So far as Auckland is concerned the Department is now endeavouring to secure ad-

ditional accommodation, for the St. Helens staff, the main hospital having reached its limit. In all the St. Helens in the Dominion there is to-day a long list of applicants who wish to train, and for several years past there has been no difficulty in filling up any vacancies in the regular staff. Returns furnished to the Department recently show that the nurses in St. Helens worked on an average eight to nine hours per day, which considering the nature of their duties is not excessive. Dr. Hughes ,the local health officer, has already denied that nurses are unprovided with the means of reaching their patients. He says that ‘in urgent cases, or in cases where the nurse is required late at night, they are authorised to hire a taxi; in the ordinary course of events they make use of other conveyances.’ That accorded with his (Mr. Cohen’s) experience, for he knew that in Dunedin nurses attending outside cases were provided with tram or train fare, and employed a taxi in urgent cases at the expense of the institution. Tn the United States the ShepherdTorrces Act, recently passed by Congress, had been adopted in 40 of the States. This measure provides, at the national expense, visiting maternity nurses in out-of-the-way places, the establishment of maternity centres and clinics for the protection of mothcr-

“ Another statement made during th:; present campaign to the effect that ‘ the maternity death rate in New Zealand is the highest in the world 7 is not only mischievous and misleading, but is contrary to fact, 77 concluded Mr Cohen, “So far from that being the case, as alleged, our maternity death-rate is exceeded by Spain, Switzerland, France, the United States, Belgium, Scotland, and Ireland. The morality rate in St. Helens hospitals in New Zealand —these, being directly under the control of the Health Department —is very low, viz., 2.8 per 1000 births, and beyond the St. Helens hospitals the Department cannot accept any responsibility, as the .actual confinements are conducted by private practitioners. Maternal mortality ought and can be reduced, and effective steps in that direction have been taken during the last two years, as it can be proved beyond dispute that our maternity death-rate has been materially reduced of late. 77