The London County Council Nursing Service 1929-48: the significance of the nursing leadership.

'On the vesting day of the National Health Service, the LCC handed over to the NHS the largest and most comprehensive hospital system under a single authority that existed in the world' (1). The careers of the Matrons-in Chief, Dorothy Bannon and subsequently Rosalie Dreyer, demonstrate that the LCC had been able to attract nursing leaders from the voluntary hospitals. Both were able to use their new position within the LCC hierarchy to promote the interests of nursing. They took this opportunity to develop a nursing service which became a model to rival the hegemony of the voluntary hospitals.