View report page

1937] 90
PUERPERAL PYREXIA.
Notification of Puerperal Pyrexia Regulations, 1926.—There were 75 cases
notified, as against 57 last year. Of these, 7 were Private Medical Practitioners'
cases ; 68 occurred in Hospital. The notifications were in the proportion of 16-6
per 1,000 births.

The services of the Council's Consultant were sought on 3 occasions during the
year. All the cases were on account of difficult confinements.
MIDWIVES ACT, 1936.
This Act, so far as London including Islington, is concerned, came into force
on January 1st, 1938, but in view of the considerable changes in midwifery practice
necessitated by this, a very considerable amount of preparatory work had to be
done in connection with it during the year 1937.
The Local Supervising Authority for midwives is the London County Council,
and for midwifery purposes Islington forms part of Area B, which is comprised of
the City of London, Finsbury, Holborn, Islington and St. Pancras.
Under the provisions of the Act it is the duty of the Local Supervising Authority
" to secure, whether by making arrangements with Welfare Councils or voluntary
organisations for the employment by those councils or organisations of certified
midwives as whole-time servants or by itself employing such midwives, that the
number of certified midwives so employed who are available in its area for attendance
on women in their own homes as midwives, or as maternity nurses during childbirth
and from time to time thereafter during a period not less than the lying-in
period, is adequate for the needs of the Area."
The London County Council proposed to appoint four whole-time midwives
for Area B, and in addition the following Hospitals and Nursing Associations, by
arrangement with the London County Council, employ midwives to undertake the
work in this district :—City of London Hospital, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
Hospital, Maternity Nursing Association, Middlesex Hospital, Royal Free Hospital,
Royal Northern Hospital, St. Bartholomew's Hospital and University College
Hospital.
Every woman who so desires may therefore apply from January 1st, 1938, for
the services of a London County Council certified midwife, and if a doctor has been
engaged for the confinement then application may be made for the midwife to act
as a Maternity Nurse. In this connection attention is drawn particularly to that
section of the Act dealing with the prohibition of unqualified persons acting as
maternity nurses for gain. After the adoption of the Act in the area concerned no