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
St Pancras 1936
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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Comparative Figures for Recent Years ark as follows : —
| 1936. | 1935. | 1934. | 1933. | 1932. | 1931. | 1930. | 1929. | 1928. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puerperal Fever. | Cases | 15 | 26 | 18 | 31 | 42 | 25 | 33 | 43 | 33 | ||
| Deaths | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 3 | Nil. | 5 | 3 | Per | ||
| Incidence Mortality | 6.0 | 10.4 | 7.1 | 11.6 | 15.2 | 8.5 | 10.3 | 13.6 | 10.1 | 1,000 births. | ||
| Rate | 2.0 | 7.7 | 16.7 | 194 | 19.0 | 12.0 | Nil. | 11.6 | 9.1 | 100 cases. | ||
| Death Rate | 1.2 | •8 | 1.2 | 22 | 2.9 | 1.0 | Nil. | 1.6 | 0.9 | 1,000 births. | ||
| Puerperal Pyrexia. | Cases | 17 | 17 | 24 | 37 | 34 | 37 | 37 | 53 | 41 | ||
| Incidence | 6.8 | 6.0 | 9.5 | 13.8 | 12. 3 | 12.5 | 11.6 | 16.7 | 12.5 | 1,000 births. | ||
Students.
The National Health Society send four or six Student Health Visitors for periods of
about three months at a time. They study and work at a centre on two days a week.
Various special demonstrations are arranged to help them to gain a practical insight into every
branch of the work.
The following report is submitted by Dr. P. V, Pritchard, the Maternity and Child
Welfare Officer: —
I would like to express my appreciation for the manner in which the various
Voluntary Committees representing the Welfare Centres and Ancillary Services under the
Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme of the Borough have co-operated with me in my endeavour
to carry out the wishes of the Council in bringing the Service up to date and making it
uniform for the whole Borough. I appreciate the value of my position as liaison officer
between these Committees and the Council, as it is this close association with the work and
wishes of both sides which enables me to guide the Service in the required direction.
It has been impossible to attend to the problem of the care of foster children in the
manner and to the extent which I think is necessary. Owing to the wording of the Public
Health (London) Act, 1936, there is no such procedure as "Registering" a foster mother.
In my opinion ' Registration " should be the fundamental principle, and it should be on the
same lines as the Registration of a Nursing Home, for example. In this way a woman would
have to prove her ability and the suitability of her home before she could obtain a certificate
permitting her to care for a certain and fixed number of foster children. The law at present
allows practically any woman to undertake this serious duty so long as she notifies the
Borough Council of her intention to do so. The foster child can then be received by the
woman, and it is not until the child has actually been so received that the Council can apply
to a magistrate for removal. Very good reasons for this request would have to be supplied.
This is surely a cumbersome method of preventing children from being cared for by
unsuitable foster mothers.
The present legal position makes the supervision of these children a difficult problem.
It is necessary to have a standard for the whole Borough, and this cannot be obtained by the
method of using all the Health Visitors as Infant Life Protection or Foster Children