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The foregoing figures refer exclusively to Hampstead patients. In
addition, 12 notifications relating to patients belonging to other districts
were received from the following sources: —
Medical Officer of Hampstead Workhouse on admission of
patients from Mount Vernon or Freidenheim, belonging
to other districts 5
Medical Officers of outlying Poor Law Institutions on removal
of patients to Hampstead Institutions 2
Masters of outlying Poor Law Institutions on removal of
patients to Hampstead Institutions 4
Medical Officer of outlying Workhouse on the admission of
patient from Hampstead Institution 1
The notified patients are visited by Mrs. Fisher, the lady sanitary
inspector, who gives the necessary instruction in the precautions that
a consumptive patient should observe to prevent the spread of the
disease to others, and inquires into the source of infection. Mrs.
Fisher made 287 visits to the homes of consumptive patients in 1910.
To assist the work of the lady inspector a body of voluntary visitors,
organised by the Joint Phthisis Committee of the Hampstead Health
Society and the Hampstead Council of Social Welfare, works in close
co-operation with the Public Health Department. In previous Annual
Reports reference has been made to the valuable work of the Joint
Committee, which is of special value in providing sanatorium treatment
and material assistance in various ways for consumptive patients.
Disinfection is carried out by the Public Health Department after
a death from consumption, and, as occasion requires, during the life of
a patient. The total number of premises disinfected in 1910 was 128.
The Council arrange for the bacteriological examination of specimens
from suspected cases of consumption. In 1910 the total number of
specimens examined was 14, of which 4 were positive and 10 negative.
Tuberculosis causes nearly one-tenth of the total mortality of
Hampstead, and although the death-rate from the disease is declining
the decline is not so marked as it ought to be, considering that tuberculosis
is preventable, and that an appropriate technique of prevention has
already been fairly extensively worked out. Measures of general
sanitation, such as the prompt removal of refuse, the sanitary construction
of dwellings and workshops, &c., undoubtedly have a considerable