View report page

Report by the Medical Officer of Health, September, 1938.
Twelve months have now elapsed since the establishment of
your domiciliary midwifery service, which came into operation on
1st August, 1937 ; and I take this opportunity of submitting sundry
observations on the working of the scheme during the first year
of its operation.
It will be remembered that, in formulating your proposals for
submission to the Ministry of Health, the estimate of staff requirements
was based on the average annual number of domiciliary
confinements in the area during the previous five-year-period
1931-35 (inclusive) and at that time I drew attention to the difficulty
of forming any reliable estimate of the annual number of
future domiciliary confinements owing to the operation of such
variable factors as the future trend of the population and birth
rate, and to the possible increase or decrease in the proportion of
women confined in institutions.
In the official Memo. (200/M.C.W.) accompanying the Midwives'
Act, 1936, the Minister suggested that, in arriving at their estimates,
local authorities should consider whether the establishment of the
new domiciliary service may not result in an increase in the number
of domiciliary confinements; and in my initial report I gave it as
my opinion that the future demand for the services of domiciliary
midwives would depend, not so much on the efficiency and status