How Poor People Manage.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1502, 26 July 1912, Page 6

How Poor People Manage.

One doctor expressed a most emphatic opinion that it did not reach that class in tho way it should. When a room was engaged—usually two months before the (late of confinement—a deposit of ,E1 was required, ajid from the date of the connntment 30s. per week was charged. One result ol this was that people who could not pay the deposit and charges had to manage by hook or crook. They got over tlieir difhculty by engagintr a doctor and nurse, and paying neither. The institution, instead of catering for peo'ploMvho could very, well otforcl to pay for these services, should meet these cases. Peonlo ewmns £i a week would use the St. Helens Hospital, pay the charges, and then boast that they had not received any charity. The result must bo that some really necessitous cases must bo debarred from the institution, as its copacity was limited to sixteen patients. Tho country sbould not be called upon to provide an extensive maternity hospital W peop - e whose circumstances we.ro such that they could, without any stress, be confined in their own homes- or in private nursing homes. Personally he -vSuld very mucfi like to see bt. Helen's Hospital free- to nil patients whoso means were too' small for thorn to face the cost of n home or private », SP J f, co '- fino »>eiit. It would then -each tho class whose homes wrre most unfavourable for confinements. His own opinion was that a maternity ward was pital. Patients would bo received there as in other parts of the hospital, without regard to payment or their circumstances

Catch Vole Device by a Dying Government.' Another medical practitioner said that tta recent extension ton £i a week limit was a catch vole, expedient by a dvinjr Government and it would, in all probability, react en the poorer people, for whose benefit- the St. Helens' hospitals ™ founded. The.y could ensilv be shut out ot the rooms beinff engaged'-by £i :> V-eeK people, wiw would have no difficulty m finding the small sum required as a deposit Ho believed that, in the past, the ot. .Helens Hospital had done good work, Mid that no really impecunious person Jiad been shut out if there was room. The eiMv .regulation would severely strain the" levsourccs of the institution. A member of the- Hospital and Charitable Aid Board admitted that there wore many arguments in favour of a maternitv ward at the public hospital. It was said that the hospital was simply a training institution for nurses, but at present "■ left out instruction in midwiforv, which was the most important branch* of (ho profession. Iho board had recently given its support to a scheme for prov-idine nurses for country districts, but, when applications for the position were received, it was found that the- nurses who nppljed had no knowledge of midwifery. It iws no uso sending them into the country, where in all probability the majority of then- cases would be. midwifery cases. It was his impression Hint the board occasionally assisted women who,wished to enter the Ilome by advancing tho sum required from them when making their application for admission. Tho possibility of really necer-sitious patients being squeezed out" by tho recent extension of the. earnings' limit was a very real one.

Will the New Minister Inquire? Tho "Press," . commenting editorially upon the subject, remarks: We do not think it is riffht that: an expensive matermty hospital should ljo kept up by, the Government for the benefit of persons earning over .£2OO per nmnmi. We do not think it is fair, either, to private, nursing homes and nurses in private practice, to medical men, or to the struggling taxpayer who will be called upon to make up any deficiency, but this is by no means our chief reason for drawing pubhe attention to the question of the St. Helen's Hospitals. The real scandal of the present position is Hint while provision is made for th'ose who, in many cases, are able to provide for themselves, • there is no provision for the most necessitioiis class of others among the respectablo_ poor. If we can have maternity wards, or maternity homes in connection with the hospitals for the poor, as well as the St. Helen's homes for those who are better ofl', well and good, but if wo have to make n choice between the two, wo say that the former arc tho more important. We hope that the new Minister for Health will go carefully into the question of the management of these institutions with a view to .seeing how far they are carrying out their original purpose, whether they arc properly managed in all cases, and what of the cost to the community. We hope he will also take into consideration tho question of association maternity work wifli at least the leading hospitals.