Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
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16
Public Mortuary and Coroner's Court
The premises are situated in Ladywell Road and comprise a court
room, witness room, coroner's office, caretaker's apartments and mortuary.
Statistics are as under:—
Table 11
Month | Bodies received from Institutions | Others | Post-mortem examinations | Inquests held | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lewisham residents | Others | ||||
January | 44 | 35 | 44 | 35 | 10 |
February | 32 | 64 | 58 | 38 | 16 |
March | 73 | 69 | 70 | 72 | 21 |
April | 50 | 30 | 47 | 33 | 10 |
May | 41 | 31 | 39 | 33 | 18 |
June | 53 | 26 | 38 | 41 | 13 |
July | 45 | 30 | 47 | 28 | 4 |
August | 43 | 30 | 43 | 30 | 9 |
September | 43 | 28 | 40 | 31 | 13 |
October | 44 | 41 | 57 | 28 | 12 |
November | 60 | 34 | 62 | 32 | 17 |
December | 51 | 49 | 66 | 34 | 16 |
TOTALS | 579 | 467 | 611 | 435 | 159 |
Rodent control
In his report on rodent control work during 1964, Mr. Phillips,
the Senior Public Health Inspector states:— The number of premises
where rat infestation was found has again shown a slight decrease from
961 to 908. This may be due to the effective baiting of the sewers but is
more likely to have been the result of a very extensive baiting and
gassing of the river banks, where 1,150 base points were laid compared
with 187 in 1963. A great deal of this work was necessary to reduce the
infestation of several business premises adjoining the rivers and this can
be seen in the reduction in the number of rat infestations found during
the year in this type of property, namely 62 instead of 93 in the previous
year. In most cases baiting was carried out by the use of Warfarin, although
in a few cases where more rapid results were required, zinc
phosphide was employed. Whilst there was a reduction in the number
of premises infested with rats, the number of mice remained almost the
same and in dealing with these it was found that a considerable time
was taken in some instances before a complete clearance was obtained.
In these latter cases it was thought that some immunity to the effects of
Warfarin had been built up but it is early to assess how great this
immunity may be. The use of the break back trap is still a most useful
control of premises where there are mice which the occupier can carry
out for himself but the most effective of all is the careful storage of
food, for it is the readily available supply of this which encourages the
mice and helps in the rapid increase in numbers.