[Report 1965] / Medical Officer of Health, Wiltshire County Council.

  • Wiltshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1965
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1965] / Medical Officer of Health, Wiltshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/74 (page 15)
    The distribution of welfare foods continues to be carried out mainly by voluntary helpers, whom I should like to thank for their valuable assistance. The total value of the money collected for foods issued during the year was £8,474 19s. 8d. Sums totalling only £18 9s. 8d. had to be written off, due mainly to insufficiently stamped coupons and to national dried milk out of date at centres; these losses represented 0.22% of the annual turnover. Investigation of Home Circumstances of Patients Applying for Maternity Beds to Determine Need for Priority of Admission The following table summarises the results of the investigations made at the request of the hospitals concerned during 1965:— Maternity Hospital No. of patients whose social conditions were investigated by County Council No. recommended for priority of admission No. not so recommended Total No. of deliveries in Hospital (where known) Bradford-on-Avon Maternity Hospital 1 1 — 938 Andover 14 12 2 — Devizes Maternity Hospital . Greenways Maternity Hospital, 73 59 14 440 Chippenham . 21 14 7 575 Kingshill Maternity Hospital, Swindon 56 25 31 598 (Excluding births attributable to Swindon Boro’) Romsey Hospital. — — — — St. Martin’s, Bath... 2 2 — — St. Peter’s, Shepton Mallet . — — — — Southmead Hospital, Bristol . — —• — — Malmesbury Hospital . 11 11 — 174 Odstock Hospital, Salisbury . 11 9 2 1,054 (From Wiltshire) Savernake Hospital, Marlborough 1 1 — 312 Frome Hospital. 5 4 1 — 195 138 57 — These figures show that 29.2 per cent of patients whose social circumstances were investigated were not recommended for priority of admission; this figure compares with 31.9 per cent in the previous year. In the case of patients whose admission to hospital was not recommended, every assistance in making suitable arrangements for confinement at home was given by the domiciliary midwifery and home help services. The number of cases referred by hospitals for investigation of social circumstances can be only a small proportion of the total number of patients seeking admission to hospital on other than medical grounds, and this aspect of co-operation by hospitals with the local health authority services should be developed in more areas of the County.