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Provision of dinners (at some Centres), milk, and also of dental treatment for expectant
and nursing mothers is another facility. For particulars of this scheme see pages 100-102
and 116-119.
Domiciliary Midwifery Service.
In the Metropolis, the supervising authority for midwives is the London County
Council. Under the Midwives Act, 1936, the London County Council have set up a Domiciliary
Midwifery Service. For this purpose London has been divided into areas, each area
comprising a group of Metropolitan Boroughs. Area B consists of the City of London,
Finsbury, Holborn, Islington and St. Pancras. The London County Council have allocated
four Midwives to serve this area. In addition, Domiciliary Midwifery Service is supplied in
the Borough by the Maternity Nursing Association, and other Voluntary Hospituls. These
institutions are in receipt of L.C.C. grants for the work of their midwives.
This arrangement enables every woman living in Area B, who wishes to have her
confinement at home, to have the services of a L.C.C. State Certified Midwife or a fully
quali6ed Maternity Nurse if a Doctor has been engaged. The fee asked is £1 10s. to £2, but
this amount is adjusted by the L.C.C., not the midwife or maternity nurse, to meet the special
circumstances of the woman.
This Scheme does not preclude Midwives, other than those referred to above, from
undertaking normal private practice. During 1938 about nine Midwives practised in this
manner in the Borough.
Institutional Midwifery.
There is 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.
A subsidy is paid by the Borough Council to certain hospitals in connection with the
admission of necessitous cases to their maternity wards and also in connection with certain
cases attended at home by midwives on the staffs of various hospitals and institutions.