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31
Number of accouchement sets issued :
Free of charge 82
At cost price 93
175
Number of cases in which Home Help provided 45
Amount of fees collected by midwives £645
Cases attended by independent midwives.
Since the Council's Midwifery Service came into operation
eight independent midwives resident in the area have given up
their practices, five surrendering their certificates and receiving
compensation, and three leaving the district, one to take up a
municipal appointment elsewhere. In addition, two midwives
resident in Southall were appointed to the staff of the Southall
Council and will no longer undertake cases in Ealing, and one midwife
resident in Wembley has been requested by the Middlesex County
Council to surrender her certificate under Section 5 (2) of the Act.
At the end of the year there were seven midwives resident
in the district and eight in neighbouring areas who were continuing
in independent practice in the Borough. In addition,
midwives from three nursing homes undertake occasional cases in
the patient's own home. The total number of domiciliary cases
attended during the whole year by these 18 midwives was 175.
The Midwives Act provides for the payment of compensation
for the surrender of certificates up to the 30th July, 1939, and some
of the remaining independent midwives may decide to surrender
their certificates before this date.
Prohibition of unqualified persons acting as Maternity Nurses.
Following a report by the Medical Officer of Health on the
Service, made at the end of October, representations were made
by the Council to the Minister of Health requesting that an Order
be made applying Section 6 of the Midwives Act, 1936, to the
Borough. This Section empowers the Minister of Health to make
an Order prohibiting any person other than a state certified
midwife or a state registered nurse from attending as a nurse on
a woman in childbirth. This prohibition does not extend to
(a) any person undergoing training with a view to becoming a
duly qualified medical practitioner or a certified midwife, (b) to