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 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Pancras, Metropolitan Borough]
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Comparative Figures for Recent Years are as follows:—
| 1938. | 1937. | 1936. | 1935 | 1934. | 1933. | 1932. | 1931. | 1930. | 1929. | Per | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puerperal Fever. | Cases | 13 | 13 | 15 | 26 | 18 | 31 | 42 | 25 | 33 | 43 | |
| Deaths | Nil | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 3 | Nil. | 5 | ||
| Incidence | 5.2 | 5.3 | 6.0 | 10.4 | 7.1 | 11.6 | 15.2 | 8.5 | 10.3 | 13.6 | 1,000 births. | |
| Mortality Rate | Nil | 7.7 | 20.0 | 7.7 | 16.7 | 19.4 | 19.0 | 12.0 | Nil. | 11.6 | 100 cases | |
| Death Rate | Nil | .4 | 1.2 | .8 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 1.0 | Nil. | 1.6 | 1,000 births. | |
| Puerperal Pyrexia. | Cases | 31 | 31 | 17 | 17 | 24 | 37 | 34 | 37 | 37 | 53 | |
| Incidence | 12.3 | 12.7 | 6.8 | 6.0 | 9.5 | 13.8 | 12.3 | 12.5 | 11.6 | 16.7 | 1,000 births. |
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 maintaining and improving the high
standard of our Service and in making it uniform for the whole Borough. I appreciate
my position as liaison officer between these Committees and the Council, as it is this close
association with the work and wishes of both parties which help me to guide the Service in
the required direction.
The work of the N.S.P.C.C.'s Inspectors, Mr. Ayling and Mr. Lecore, continues to
be of great assistance to this department and I wish to record how much I value their
co-operation.
The difficulty of the satisfactory control of foster mothers is still an unsolved problem.
The Public Health (London) Act, 1936, allows any woman, with few exceptions, to take care
of foster children. There is no preliminary "Registration" of the woman or her home. She
complies completely with the requirements of the Act if she gives this Authority notice of
her intention to take the child or children. This fact is not sufficiently well known and it
leads to much confusion and incorrect ideas about the so-called "Registered Foster Mother."
The words "register" or "registered " do not appear in the relevant legislation.
We have continued our policy of training fifteen student Health Visitors a year.
Generally they attend twice a week, with an occasional whole week's training. They are
divided among Camden Town and Kentish Town Welfare Centres. In addition to their
practical work at our Centres and at the Tuberculosis Dispensary under Dr. Back's guidance,
I arrange for them to receive experience in other branches of Maternity and Child Welfare
activities. The benefit is mutual, the students are taught their profession and those of us who
have to train them have to keep abreast of our subjects. From the records it is noted that
our students have had marked success in their examinations and their subsequent appointments.