Report of the Departmental Committee appointed by the Lord President of the Council to consider the working of the Midwives Act, 1902.
- Great Britain. Midwives Act Committee.
- Date:
- [1909]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Report of the Departmental Committee appointed by the Lord President of the Council to consider the working of the Midwives Act, 1902. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![19 May 1909.] Mr. B. P. Young. [Conthmed. practitioner in poor law cases has not to supply medicine, whereas in the country the medical practi- tioner has to supply the medicine, and medicine will be dearer on account of the Budget. 6855. Yon have already suggested that a mileage scale would have to be considered in naral districts ?— Yes. For instance, take Bedfordshire ; I was in a rural district there, and I had to get on to a horse and go out six miles to a case. In such circumstances, I do not think a guinea would pay you, specially if you have to go out five or six times afterwards to see the patient and supply medicine. 6856. Have you any suggestion to make as to what would be a proper mileage scale ?—No; I think the Local Government Board should go into that question. 6857. Then with reference to the returnf which you put in, that shows that 481 candidates have been pre- sented from poor law institutions ?—Yes. 6858. That is as against 5,333 from non-poor law institutions ?—Yes. 6859. That is up to March 31st, 1909 .P—Yes. 6860. What period would that cover .P—The whole period. 6861. Do you think that that is a sufficient supply of candidates from poor law institutions ?—I shovild hke to see it extended if possible. I should like the poor law cases to be increased. I think they are very good candidates indeed. In fact if you take the per- centages they turn out better than the others. Some- thing like 13 per cent, of the poor law candidates have failed, as against 19 per cent, of the other candidates. 6862. Have you the actual figures ?—Yes, I have had them worked out on purpose. That is up to the 31st of March. {Handing in document.) 6863. {Chairman.) We might have this on the notes of the evidencef ?—Very well. 6864. {Dr. Bournes.) It is 13 • 5 per cent, of the can- didates from poor law institutions, and 19 • 5 per cent, of candidates from non-poor law institiitions ?—Yes, which shows that you could utilise the poor law more. 6865. {Chairman.) Is that from the beginning of the Board's administration ?—Yes. I got Mr. Duncan to work it out for me. There is a feeling against poor law teaching, but I think we ought to utilise it as much as possible. 6866. {Mr. Pedder.) You say there are a good many more midwives than are wanted ?—Yes. 6867. From what point of view ?—Because they cannot get cases. 6868. How would you cux-e that ? Can it be cured ? —I think one of the reasons for it is that they have to pay doctors when called in. 6869. If the doctors were paid that would not be so ? —If they were paid, then some of these midwives would stand a better chance. 6870. So that you would not say that there are too many midwives for the work to be done ?—I do not think they would get what I call a living wage. 6871. Not even then ?—A good many of them would not. We have got plenty in Paddington. 6872. How could it be cured, if there are too many in one place and too few in another ?—It is difficult to say. 6873. You cannot suggest a way of dealing with it ?—Unless it is taken up by voluntary associations. 6874. But would voluntary associations be able to take away Paddington midwives, and place them some- where else ?—No ; but some of them might be prevailed upon to go to places not provided at all with midwives. 6875. Then you say, classes should be formed where instriiction woiild be given, as is done in London. Do you think those classes are working well ?—I have not much experience of that. I have not been to the classes to see. But there is gross ignorance prevailing t Analysis of Ebsdlts of Examination Candidates PROM Poor Law and Non-Poor Law Institutions. Entered. Passed. Failed. ^''S^rS °^ Poor Law - 4S1 416 6.5 13'5 Non-Poor Law 5,333 4,293 1,040 19'5 Up to March 31st, 1909. 21 examinations. among some of the midwives upon the roll, and I think it shows they ought to be instructed. It is lamentable. For instance, I frequently put the question, what do you consider the normal tem- perature ? and the answer is, I do not know, and I ask, would you think 94 was high? and the answer would be no then I would say, how al)out 95? and the answer would be, a very high tem- perature indeed. 6876. Was this when examining candidates r—No, it is when these women come up before the penal cases committee, and it shows that they are grossly ignorant. It is the fault of the Act in putting on a number of women who are thoroughly incompetent to take cases. 6877. You want a system of instruction for acting midwives ?—I think they ought to be instructed, now they are on the roll imder the Act, and I say that we, as the Central Midwives Board, ought to take off the ignorant women, because they are not safe. 6878. Would you wish for more powers in the Central Midwives Board to control the whole system of midwives and supervising authorities, and the working of the Act generally?—No, I do not think so. I would give more power to the local supervising authorities. 6879. More punitive power?—Yes. We have got as much as we can manage on the Central Midwives Board at the present time, I think. 6880. The impression on my mind is that the machinery from bottom to top of this midwives' business is rather shaky, and that the different parts of the machine do not work well together. You have a Central Midwives Board at the top, the local super- vising authorities in the middle with no particular connection with anything, and the midwives at the bottom. Has it occurred to you that there should be more cohesion somewhere, throughout the whole ?—I do not follow you. 6881. The Central Midwives Board do not now, do they, take a paternal interest in midwives all over the country ?—No, it is the local supervising authorities who inspect them, and so forth. 6882. There is a considerable chance of their not doing their work properly, if they are not respon- sible to ?.nybody except themselves for doing it properly ?—Yes. 6883. Ought they not to be responsible to some one ?—I should say they ought to be responsible to the local supervising authority. 6884. But I am speaking of the local supervising authority, which itself is not responsible to anyone ?—• No. 6885. It ought to be ?—I think the Local Govern- ment Board ought to be the authority. 6886. Not the Central Midwives Board?—No, we have got such ample duties that, speaking for myself, I do not think we want more duties than we have at present. 6887. {Mr. Fremantle.) Would it, in your opinion, ease your duties on the Central Midwives Board if the Board were enlarged ?—I should not make* it too large. 6888. But if it were enlarged ?—There should.be, I think, two or three more members put on. 6889. You think that would ease the work, do you ? —I think it would a little, because we might put some on committees. 6890. Do you not think, if joxi had two or three more members on, you might possibly be able to under- take the work of supervising the local supervising authorities, or getting into closer touch with them ?— It is possible. 6891. Do you feel much reliance on your present system of getting information from the local supervising- authorities ?—No, it is very difficult sometimes. Some of them are very difficult to manage. 6892. Would you like to have greater powers of getting into touch with the local supervising authorities ? —I think we want power there certainly. We want to be able to compel the offenders to do their duty. 6893. Which method would you favour, the method of your sending down your inspector to the local super- vising authority, or their sending up to you periodically](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21361113_0305.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
