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2. In addition to the above several of the Churches provide
a District Nurse. The work is limited to the parishioners of the
respective Churches.
(b) Infectious Diseases.—The Health Visitors of the District Council
visit cases of the minor Infectious Diseases at their homes and
give appropriate advice as to management and treatment.
Midwives.—There are two Certified Midwives practising Midwifery
in the district, and a number of unqualified persons who go
out as monthly nurses under the supervision of the doctor in charge
of the case. With regard to the latter there is need, in the interests
of the mother and infants, of the Midwives' Acts being amended so
as to limit as far as possible unqualified persons doing this work,
except in emergencies, and to define more precisely the degree of
supervision that shall be given by the doctor in charge of the case.
The Beckenham and Penge Maternity Home employs a number of
qualified Midwives on the Staff, some of whom attend extern cases
in the patients' homes. An arrangement has also been made by the
Home whereby certain extern cases are attended by the two Midwives
who are in practice in the district, and it has also been arranged
that probationer nurses obtaining their training at the Home will
receive experience in district work under the supervision of these
latter.
The supervision and control of Midwives under the Midwives'
Acts is in the hands of the County Council and not the District
Council. This is an unsatisfactory arrangement as the District
Council is responsible for initiating and administering all the other
Statutes and Regulations which provide for the care of Expectant
Mothers and Infants, and the work of Midwives is indissolubly connected
and bound up with the whole scheme of welfare on behalf of
infants and expectant mothers.
The District Council, through its Maternity Home, through
the Welfare Centres, and the Home Visiting of its Health Visitors
is in a position to exercise a very intimate amount of supervision and
control over the Midwives as compared with an Authority whose