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In addition to the above, the Metropolitan District Nursing Association also undertook
the necessary nursing arising in connection with 162 cases, chiefly maternity or tuberculosis,
and children's complaints, and to these 1,987 visits were paid.
Home Helps.
This term is used to describe women who have received a certain amount of training
in domestic work, including the care of young children. They are provided for necessitous
families where the mother is incapacitated on account of sickness or child-birth.
The management is in the hands of a Voluntary Committee, on which the Council is
represented by two members.
An annual grant of £150 is made by the Borough Council for use in rospect of
maternity cases only.
Two permanent " Helps " were employed throughout the year, and 14 temporary
" Helps " for emergency cases.
82 cases were dealt with during the year, 78 being maternity and 4 sickness cases.
Midwives.
In the Metropolis, the supervising authority for midwives is the London County
Council. According to figures supplied by that authority in January, 1935, the number of
midwives who, in 1 y;34, had notified their intention to practise in St. Pancras was 45. Only
12 of this number are engaged in private practice, the remainder are on the staff of various
hospitals and institutions in the Borough.
Private midwives are not subsidised by the Borough Council, but a subsidy is paid
for each approved necessitous case attended in the patient's home by midwives on the staff of
certain hospitals and by midwives employed by the Maternity Nursing Association,
The subsidy is not paid in cases where " Maternity benefit " is payable under the
National Health Insurance Act.
Midwifery.
There are a large number of institutions, situated either within or near the Borough,
which provide midwifery attendance, either at the patient's home or by admission as
in-patients. There is at present no arrangement under which midwives acting in the capacity
of maternity nurses attend cases with students at the patients' homes.