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Public Health Officers of the Local Authority. (See p. 3).
Professional Nursing- in the Home.
General and Midwifery:—The Wimbledon and District
Nursing and Midwifery Association, which is supported by
voluntary contributions, has a staff of a matron and seven
nurses. Five of the staff are district nurses, and two district
midwives. The Association attended one hundred and fiftythree
midwifery cases during the year. One hundred and
eighteen of these were midwives cases and thirty-five were
cases with doctors in attendance. In all, 2,299 visits were paid
to maternity cases. Furthermore, two hundred and eightyfour
ante-natal visits were made by the nursing staff of the
Association. The total number of cases dealt with during
]932, including midwifery, amounted to nine hundred and
fifty-five, the total visits paid to these cases being 20,510.
The Wimbledon Borough Council make an annual contribution
of ten guineas to this Association.
Midwives Acts, 1902-1926.
The Borough Council is the Local1 Supervising Authority
for the Midwives Acts in Wimlbledon.
Twenty-two midwives notified their intention of practising
in the Borough during the year, together with four
midwives resident in outside areas. Six of the former eventually
removed to other districts, leaving sixteen practising
midwives in Wimbledon at the end of 1932.
There are, in addition, a number of midwives acting
purely as maternity nurses in maternity homes in the district.
Three hundred and seventy-six confinements were
attended by the midwives and one hundred and fifty-three
by the maternity nurses. In the latter cases, of course,
doctors had been engaged by the patients.
Regular inspection of the midwives was carried out by
the Assistant Medical Officer, who is the Inspector of Midwives
for the Borough. These inspections, with few minor
exceptions, showed that the records, bags, instruments, etc.,
were being maintained in a satisfactory manner.
In one or two cases midwives were found to be giving
insufficient attention to the ante-natal side of their work.
It was pointed out to them that the rules of the Central
Midwives Board would be rigidly enforced, and subsequent
inspections showed that the warnings given had had the
desired effect. Where necessary, a midwife was shown, in
detail, how the new ante-natal record books were required to
be kept.
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