Observations on the comparative advantages of affording obstetric attendance on poor woman in lying-in hospitals and in their own homes / by Denis Phelan.

  • Phelan, Denis, 1785-1871.
Date:
1867
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the comparative advantages of affording obstetric attendance on poor woman in lying-in hospitals and in their own homes / by Denis Phelan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The Reports of the Board of Superintendence of Dublin Hospi- tals show that, in the seven years ended March, 1864, 9,039 labour cases, and 1,272 patients affected with chronic female diseases, were admitted into the Dublin Rotundo Lying-in Hospital, and that the expenditure amounted to £16,018, which sum (excluding the cost of buildings and furnishing such buildings) was an average cost of 31s per head. During these seven years 617 extern labour cases were attended from the hospital, for which the expense is not given, probably because there is no officer paid for that particular dutv, the cost of which is mixed up with the general expenditure. During these seven years 3,496 labour cases, and 244 chronic patients were admitted into the Coombe Lying-in Hospital in Dublin, the expenditure being £5,600, which is an average cost of 29s. lOd. per head; but in this is included the expenditure on a dispensary for women and children, for which a medical officer is specially employed and paid. During that period 4,473 home labour cases were attended by the hospital medical officers and pupils. If the cost per head be calculated on the totals attended in and out of hospital, that on the 10,928 cases attended by the Rotundo would average 29s. 3d. per head, and on the 8,210 attended by the Coombe, 13s. 6d. per head. This disparity of cost arises from the greater number of externs attended by the Coombe than by the Rotundo. The expenditure of the London Royal Maternity Charity is stated to average £1,830 yearly, and the number of women to be 3,500 annually, which is an average cost per head of 10s. 6d. The attendance by this institution is exclusively extern. I am not aware of any other published data to show the cost of home attendance on lying-in women. As that by the Rotundo Hospital is almost exclusively intern, the cost, of course, is pro¬ portionately high; the mixed system adopted by the Coombe reduces the average cost to a moderate sum, whilst the exclusively home attendance b^j the London Maternity is still less expensive. MORTALITY OF MOTHERS IN CHILD-BED. 1. The Registrar-General reports that, in the year 186.1, 886 died of metria (puerperal fever) in England and Wales, and 2,109 of the accidents of child-birth; in 1862, 940 died of metria, 2,137 of the accidents; and in 1863 the mortality was 1,115 from the former, and 2,483 from the latter. These returns show that the mortality from