ST. HELENS CRITICISED

Chronicle (Levin), 2 October 1947, Page 5

ST. HELENS CRITICISED

Press AssociationJ

Doctor Should Attend At Confinemonts

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WELLINGTON, Oct. 1. The coptention that the St. Helens niaternity hospital system wras not up-to-date, was advanced today in a joint . statement by the Xew Zealand branen of the British Medical Association and Xew Zealand Obstetrical and Gynaecologieal Society. "It has. always been the opinion of the two bodies that the best maternity service is one in whieh a competent doctor is actually preseiit at all confinements and not mer-ely on call for emergency cases as obtains in .St. Helens hospitals," says the statement. "Modern maternity attendance ealls for even more than the primary essentjal oi aseptic care. The actual presence of a qualified medical practitioner at a confinement makes possible eertain refinements in delivery, a praetice that a midwife alone is not in a positiop to use. The presence of a doctor ensures more satisfactory measures of pain re-

lief and it is an additional safeguard m meeting sudden unsuspeeted emergeneie's whieh oeeasionally endanger the mother or child." The statement wTas issued in suppori of the attitude of the Wellington Hospital Board whieh objected strongly to the Government 's proposal to erect an additional 100 closed maternity beds on St. Helens system and abolish the existing "open" maternity annexe at tne Wellington hospital. "It is the opinion of the Society/ •* continued the statement, "that the great majority of wmmen desire the attendance of a doctor or their own choosing and one who has superviseu their case throughout. The value ot intimate personal service cannot Oe over-emphasised. At the present time St. Helens hospitals are operating mamly on the basis of midwife attendance at the confinement only, with an expert obstetrical staff on call in case oi. einergeney. This staff would be the first to admit there' are occasional mevitable delays in answering calls whieh do not occur in personally attended cases for whieh proper provision can be made in advance. The preference for open hospitals is shown clearly by tfie lesser demand for beds at St. Helens hospitals in the last seven years. The demand by expectant niothers for open beds has been so great that in some cases they have been unable to obtain them and have been diverted at the last mQment to St. Helens. It was greatly regretted that the Minister of Health, Miss Hov-ard, had refused to permit doctor attendance for these cases when approached by the Wellington HospitaJ Board." The Obstetrical and Gynaeeological Society had grave misgivings in regard to the future of public maternity hospital provision in the four main eentres, particularly in Wellington and Christchurch. It denied a suggestion that "closed" hospitals were necessary for the training of inidvvives — an opinion whieh seemed to be lieJd only by the Health Department — and pointed out that the medical teaching staff had not at any time been consulted on this point. "It is the hope of the Obstetrical and Gynaeeological Society that the Government 's intention in this respect will be abandoned, " concludes the statement. "The couneil of the B.M.A. is strongly of the opinion that an expansion of the closed maternity hospital .system would be a retrograde step. The public interest can be served only by extending the proven faeilities of public and private hospitals whieh allow prospective niothers personal medicai attention duriiig the difficult days ot childbirth. "