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41
Training of Midwives.—On the 10th October I received from the Ministry
of Health a circular drawing attention to the new regulations made by the
Board of Education. It points out that grants will be made by that Board
not exceeding £20 for each probationer who is taking a six months' course
for the C.M.B. Grants will also be paid for a course for midwives in practice,
lasting two to six weeks. Grants towards maintaining an adequate midwifery
service remain in force, as advised in the .Local Government Board's circular
of 9th August, 1918, to Maternity and Child Welfare Centres. This circular
is addressed to Supervisory Authorities under the Midwives Act and to Local
Authorities conducting Maternity and Child Welfare Centres.
There are (November, 1919) only seven midwives residing and practising
in Edmonton, of whom only two are untrained. I drew the attention of these
two midwives to the facilities now at hand for their benefit.
OPHTHALMIA NEONATORUM.
There were 14 cases, all residents, notified during 1919 by 16 notifications;
also one, a Hornsey infant, was notified to me from the Edmonton Infirmary.
Of the 14, four were in BuryStreet,5 in Fore Street and 5 in Church Street Ward.
One case was doubly notified by two doctors and one by a doctor and a
midwife. Of the single notifications, all were from doctors and none from
midwives.
Miss Shiner paid 87 visits in connection with these cases; last year she
paid 45 visits to 7 cases.
ERYSIPELAS.
Fifty-five cases were notified, compared with 34 in the previous year,
none occurring in the Edmonton Union Infirmary. There was one death—
an infant from this cause. No cases were doubly notified.
Eight cases occurred amongst people who were living in our district outside
the Union Infirmary, and yet unable to provide proper attention for themselves.
Under agreement with the Guardians, my Council received remuneration for
the nurses and dressings provided for those unfortunate persons.
The cases were most numerous in the last quarter of 1919.
PHTHISIS AND OTHER TUBERCULOUS DISEASES.
The deaths from phthisis numbered 59, as compared with 69, 86 and 69
during 1918-17-16. The death-rate from the disease is therefore 0.78 per 1,000,
compared with 0.93 last year. Of these deaths, six occurred among residents
of the district in the Edmonton Workhouse. The total deaths from phthisis
in the Edmonton Workhouse numbered 31.