Mr. ROSTRON DUCKWORTHasked the Minister of Health how many whole- 2396W time district nurses are employed to nurse the sick in their own homes in the city of Manchester per 100,00 of the population; whether the local authorities have applied to him for permission, under Section 67 of the Poor Law Act, 1930, to make grants for district nursing in this area; and whether, in view of the fact that the infant death rate during the past eight years in Manchester has aver aged 83 per 1,000 live births, whereas the infant death rate in districts with an adequate supply of visiting nurses is only half this figure, he will take any effective steps to increase the number of district nurses in the city?
§ Sir K. WOODI am unable to give separate figures for Manchester but, according to the information given in the Survey of District Nursing in England and Wales made by the Queen's Institute of District Nursing in 1934, the number of district nurses in Manchester and Salford was then 71, which is equivalent to approximately seven nurses per 100,000 of the population. I under stand that an annual grant of £600 is made by the Manchester Corporation to the Manchester and Salford District Nursing Association. As regards the last part of the question, I have no power to take action in this direction, but I may point out that the systematic supervision of the health of infants by home visiting is undertaken by health visitors, and that the Manchester Corporation have an adequate staff of such visitors.