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36
The excellent relationship, which exists between the Harrow midwives
and the medical and nursing staff at Edgware General and Bushey
Maternity Hospitals continued during the year. The midwives also continued
to attend the general practitioners' surgeries where the expectant
mother had ante-natal attention from the practitioner and the domiciliary
midwife together. Mothers, who were not considered sufficiently risk-free
to be confined at home were admitted to hospital for delivery by the local
authority midwife and then returned as early as possible to their homes
for post-natal nursing. This year the number of mothers delivered in these
two hospitals under this scheme rose from some 120 in 1969 to 241 in 1970.
The teaching domiciliary midwives, when taking patients into hospital, are
usually accompanied by a pupil midwife, who is then able to observe the
patient throughout her labour. This has the advantage for the mother of
receiving constant attention throughout her labour and for the pupil of
being able continually to observe the progress of labour, which is a very
important part of midwifery training.
In June 1970, arrangements were made for a similar scheme to start
at Kingsbury Maternity Hospital and, by September, all the domiciliary
midwives had attended the hospital for three days in order to familiarise
themselves with the labour wards and the midwifery techniques used
within the hospital. A good liaison scheme was built up with the nursing
staff at the hospital, which operates in the Charing Cross group but it was
not possible to obtain permission to start the scheme from the controlling
authority and, with regret, the scheme was abandoned.
Training
The Borough continued to assist with the training of pupil midwives
and accepted pupils from Edgware General and Bushey Maternity
Hospitals for their three months district training in preparation for Part II
of the examination of the Central Midwives Board. Each pupil works with
a midwife, who is a trained teacher and who supervises her domiciliary
training. A total of 29 pupils received practical instruction on the district
and, as a stimulus to interest, had lectures on various aspects of the local
health authority's services, together with visits of interest to the Colne
Valley Waterworks, a dairy, an ambulance station and a County Court.
Post Certificate Training
Three domiciliary midwives successfully undertook the G.l training
course as required by the Central Midwives Board.
Integration
In order to enhance the good working relationships between the
domiciliary midwives and the staffs of the various hospitals, arrangements
were made for the midwives to attend the hospitals for lectures and