View report page

- 30-

DOMICILIARY MIDWIFERY
Under the National Health Service Act, 1946, this Council, as the local health
authority, have a duty to secure that an adequate number of midwives are available to attend
women confined in their homes. The Council directly employ midwives, and through arrangements
with Queen Charlotte's Hospital and the Kensington District Nursing Association, other
midwives are available within the borough.
The Queen Charlotte's Hospital Midwifery District includes that part of the
borough which coincides approximately with the W.10. postal district. The hospital midwives
and doctors hold their ante-natal clinics weekly at the Raymede Welfare Centre.
The Kensington District Nursing Association employ two midwives who undertake
the puerperal nursing of "early discharges", i.e., women who are delivered in hospital,
but are discharged to their homes before the end of the lying-in period.
The Council's midwives operate over the whole of the borough, with the exception
of the W.10. district in North Kensington, and each has her own area of practice.
Before 1st April, 1965, five midwives were found to give adequate cover to an
area roughly corresponding to the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea and, in an emergency,
other midwives could, of course, be sent in from adjoining areas. During 1964, schemes
were introduced by the former London County Council to improve the working conditions of
their midwives and by the end of the year new rotas of duty were introduced by which most
midwives in London were on duty for two nights a week only. It was not, however, found
practicable to introduce the new rotas in this borough because of the small number of midwives
employed. From 1st April, 1965, the five Council midwives had to work as an independent
group and, in an emergency, help could no longer be sought from midwives in adjoining
areas. In order to maintain an adequate service, the Council's midwives were on call for
three and sometimes four nights a week.
To alleviate this situation, a sixth midwife was appointed and took up her duties
in July, 1965. Since then, the midwives have been on call for only two or three nights a
week. As individual case loads have been reduced by this increase in staff, they have been
able to accept more nursing of "early discharges" from hospitals.