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During illness or other unforeseen contingencies in
the Health Visiting Staff, the services of nurses from the
association are obtainable at our clinics, a fee being
payable by this Council.
(b) Nursing of Cases of Infectious Diseases.
Cases of notifiable infectious disease are normally
removed to the Isolation Hospital; certain cases,
however, of non-notifiable infections are nursed by
special nurses employed by the Nursing Association.
Midwives.
There are no midwives in the district employed by
the Local Authority. At the end of the year there were
24 midwives whose practices lay largely within the
Urban District.
The Midwives Bill now before Parliament provides
that Local Supervising Authorities shall either
themselves employ midwives or satisfy themselves that
the services of whole-time salaried midwives are available
for all confinements.
Laboratory Facilities.
Examination of clinical material is undertaken
at the Counties Public Health Laboratories, Queen
Victoria Street, London. During the year, 530 swabs
were examined for the diphtheria bacillus, 442 samples
of sputum for the bacillus of tuberculosis, 14 samples
of hair for the fungus of ringworm, biological examinations
for virulence test for diphtheria were carried out
on two occasions, and, in addition, 35 specimens
were submitted for examinations of a miscellaneous
character.