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will be in charge of the confinement; or (ii) if the services of a doctor
have been secured, a midwife can be engaged as a maternity nurse, in
which case she will act under the instructions of the doctor.
The fee charged for the services of the midwife or maternity
nurse will be very moderate. If the full fee cannot be paid it will be
reduced or remitted altogether according to the patient's circumstances.
The Nurses of the two local Nursing Associations are available
under this scheme.
Unqualified Maternity Nurses.
A further step in the direction of improving the maternity services
is provided in Section 6 of the Midwives Act, 1936, which prohibits
unqualified persons acting as maternity nurses for gain after the date
when the Minister of Health by Order applies the provisions of the
Section to any area; which he may do when he is satisfied that an
adequate domiciliary midwives' service has been provided in pursuance
of the Act.
By the County of London (Midwifery—Prohibition of Unqualified
Persons) Order, 1938, which came into operation on 1st November,
1938, the Minister of Health applied to London the provisions of
Section 6.
By virtue of the Order and Section 6 any unqualified woman or
any male person who receives any remuneration for attending in
London as a nurse on a woman in childbirth, or at any time during
the ten days immediately after childbirth, becomes liable on summary
conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.
Persons not debarred from such attendances are :—
(a.) Women certified under the Midwives Act, 1902, or registered in the
general part of the register of nurses required to be kept under the
Nurses Registration Act, 1919.
(b) Persons who, while undergoing training with a view to becoming a
duly qualified medical practitioner or a certified midwife, attend on a
woman as aforesaid as part of a course of practical instruction in
midwifery recognised by the General Medical Council or by the
Central Midwives Board.
(c) Persons attending on a woman as aforesaid in any nursing home which
is registered or which is exempt from registration under Part XI of