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39
Midwives Act, 1936.
The position which was created in London by the passing of
the Act continued to be the subject of discussion during the year
between the Metropolitan Boroughs Standing Joint Committee,
representing the Borough Councils, and the London County Council.
The scheme put forward by the County Council for the establishment
of a salaried service of midwives in the County was opposed
by the Standing Joint Committee, but the Minister of Health, after
considering the representations of both parties gave his decision
in favour of the County Council, whose scheme was approved in its
entirety.
On the 1st January, 1938, therefore, Battersea will become
part of area D (one of five areas into which for the purpose of the
midwifery service London is to be divided) and in company with
the Boroughs of Bermondsey, Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth,
will have the services of a panel of County midwives numbering
12.
Borough Midwife.—The. position of the district midwife already
employed by the Council (see page 40) was also the subject of
considerable discussion. The County Council were willing either
to absorb her into their service, or to enter into an arrangement
under which she would continue to be employed by the Council
but as part of the service to be provided by the London County
Council, the Council to receive payments on a per capita basis in
respect of the cases attended by her. It is probable that the Council
would have agreed to this alternative but for the fact that the County
Council limited their offer to the existing midwife, and were not
willing to extend it to any future holder of the office.
On the 29th December therefore the Council decided to retain
their district midwife apart from the service to be provided by the
County Council. Her salary and conditions of appointment were
adjusted to place her on an equal footing with the salaried midwives,
and the scale of fees in use by the London County Council
was adopted.
In the meanwhile the Minister, on 27th October, had informed
the Council that he would not be prepared to sanction the appointment
in the future of any additional midwives for domiciliary
midwifery or maternity nursing service.
Training of Midwives.
In the previous year, 1936, the Central Midwives' Board gave
notice of their intention to make revised rules in regard to the
training of pupil midwives. The revised rules were duly made and
submitted to the Minister of Health in 1937, and approved by him,
but they had not come into force by the end of the year. The
object of the revision was to provide for more complete training of
future midwives, and to this end the course (formerly six months for
trained nurses and 12 months for other women) was extended to 12