ABSTRACT
The control of the work of midwives is in the hands of county and county borough councils acting as local supervising authorities. In some districts the combined work of district nursing and midwifery is associated with work as a health visitor and school nurse. It is evident that there is a close and intimate relationship between the work of doctors and midwives, in private practice and in the work of maternity hospitals and homes and at antenatal clinics. To combat morbid antenatal conditions rapid increase in provision for antenatal consultations has been the most important result of the maternity and child welfare schemes initiated with and helped by government grants since 1914. Antenatal supervision has been a natural result of the efforts made by official and voluntary bodies to lower the heavy puerperal mortality which still persists; and happily the medical profession generally is now alive to its serious importance.
