London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1906
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health 1906
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The subjoined table shows the number of operations, etc., since that date until the end of the financial year 1906-7, a period of seven months.
| 1906-7. | Number of Disinfections after | Total No. of Disinfections. | Articles Disinfected | Including Disinfections of (or after). | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scarlet Fever | Diphtheria. | Enteric Fever. | Other. | No. of. | Weight of. | ||||||
| tons | cwts. | qrs. | lbs. | ||||||||
| September | 46 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 56 | 1,200 | 2 | 12 | 3 | 20 | Loan bedding. |
| October | 70 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 87 | 1,820 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 21 | Maternity Bag (Puerperal Fever. |
| November | 47 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 71 | 1,440 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 17 | Phthisis (2), Maternity Bag. |
| December | 25 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 45 | 1,659 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Erysipelas, Chickenpox, Cancer, Puerperal Fever (one each). | |
| January | 50 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 71 | 2,123 | 3 | 15 | 1 | 13 | Cancer (2), Phthisis (1). Loan bedding. |
| February | 37 | 11 | 1 | 8 | 57 | 2,709 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 21 | Cancer (4), Phthisis (1), Measles (2). Loan bedding. |
| March | 41 | 9 | 10 | 60 | 1,251 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 9 | Erysipelas (1), Membranous Croup (1), Phthisis (1), Cancer (2), Loan bedding (5). | |
| Totals - | 316 | 84 | 15 | 32 | 447 | 12,202 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 21 | |
With few exceptions the disinfected articles were also cleansed, and in a certain number of
instances, moreover, washing of infected articles of clothing, etc., was undertaken, week by week,
for the convenience of householders, during the continuance of infectious disease treated at home;
a charge being made for the service: 1,116 rooms in 1,010 houses were disinfected in the course of
the year.
Residence for Employes. — Deeming it to be desirable for the disinfecting staff to be resident at
the depot, adjacent to the disinfecting station, I recommended (November 2nd, 1905) provision of
cottages for them, and on 13th March, 1906, the Council adopted reports by the Public Health
Committee and the Finance Committee as follows :—
Public Health Committee Report (6th March. 1906).—"We are of opinion that it is desirable that the
staff should reside on the premises, and we have therefore considered a proposal for the erection of a block
of four cottages, each containing four rooms, to be rented by the employes at the disinfecting station.
We now submit a sketch plan, prepared by the Borough Engineer, showing the proposed cottages, and
recommend, That the said plan be provisionally approved, and that, subject to the sanction of the Local
Government Board being obtained to the borrowing of the sum required for the erection of the said
cottages . . . . . . the Works Committee be authorised to have the necessary specification and working
drawings prepared, and to invite tenders for the erection of the cottages for submission to the Council."
The Finance Committee (under date 7th March, 1906) reported that the Public Health
Committee had submitted—
"Particulars of the proposal which they are bringing before the Council, for the erection of four
cottages to be occupied by the staff to be employed at the Disinfecting Station at Wood Lane Depôt,
and as tbe adoption of the recommendation of the Committee is made subject to the Local Government
Board sanctioning the raising of a loan to meet the expenditure proposed to be incurred, we recommend,
'That the necessary application be made to the Local Government Board for their sanction to the Council
borrowing the sum required for the erection of the said cottages, [and for the carrying out of the further
works which the Public Health Committee are recommending] in connection with the Disinfecting
Station.'"