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26
Midwives.
Owing to the Council being made a Local Supervising
Authority under the Midwives Acts in April,
1937, proposals had to be submitted to the Minister of
Health for the employment of midwives directly by the
Council and the use of the services of midwives employed
by Associations.
The negotiations resulted in the Council employing
nine midwives and arranging with the District Nursing
Association for the services of seven and the Salvation
Army for the services of two. The employment of these
midwives did not actually commence until the early
part of 1938. Fuller reference will therefore be made
in the report for that year.
Laboratory Facilities.
Examination of clinical material is undertaken at
the Counties Public Health Laboratories. Queen Victoria
Street, London. During the year, 432 swabs were
examined for the diphtheria bacillus, 408 samples of
sputum for the bacillus of tuberculosis, 20 samples of
hair for the fungus of ringworm, examination for
agglutination of blood against typhoid and allied
organisms on 32 occasions, and in addition, 46 specimens
were submitted for examinations of a miscellaneous
character and two biological examinations for virulence
test.
The same laboratory also undertakes the bacteriological
examination of milk and ice-cream, of which
68 samples of the former and 29 of the latter were
submitted during the year.
671 swabs were examined for the diphtheria bacillus
at the Public Health Offices.