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
London County Council 1933
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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the Ministry of Health, although treatment was arranged in institutions for children.
| Classification. | Immediate results of treatment. | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quiescent. | Not quiescent. | Died in institution. | Totals. | |||||||||
| Years. | Years. | Years. | Years. | |||||||||
| 1931. | 1932. | 1933. | 1931. | 1932. | 1933. | 1931. | 1932. | 1933. | 1931. | 1932. | 1933. | |
| A. Number | 356 | 338 | 306 | 397 | 326 | 323 | 7 | 12 | 5 | 760 | 676 | 634 |
| Percentage | 46.9 | 500 | 48.3 | 52.2 | 48.2 | 50.9 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| B1. Number | 100 | 111 | 89 | 103 | 95 | 108 | — | — | 1 | 203 | 206 | 198 |
| Percentage | 49.3 | 53.9 | 44.9 | 50.7 | 40.1 | 54.5 | — | — | 0.6 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| B2. Number | 162 | 214 | 192 | 1,988 | 2,131 | 2,445 | 39 | 46 | 53 | 2,189 | 2,391 | 2,690 |
| Percentage | 7.4 | 8.9 | 7.1 | 90.8 | 89.1 | 90.9 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| B.3 Number | — | — | — | 834 | 740 | 666 | 267 | 200 | 183 | 1,101 | 940 | 849 |
| Percentage | — | — | — | 75.7 | 78.7 | 78.2 | 24.3 | 21.3 | 21.8 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Total Pulmonary | 618 | 663 | 587 | 3,322 | 3,292 | 3,542 | 313 | 258 | 242 | 4,253 | 4,213 | 4,371 |
| Percentage | 14.5 | 15.7 | 13.4 | 78.1 | 78.2 | 81.1 | 7.4 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Surgical | 93 | 165 | 189 | 300 | 292 | 254 | 13 | 17 | 18 | 406 | 474 | 461 |
| Percentage | 22.9 | 34.8 | 41.0 | 73.9 | 61.6 | 55.1 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Grand Total | 711 | 828 | 776 | 3,622 | 3,584 | 3,796 | 326 | 275 | 260 | 4,659 | 4,687 | 4,832 |
| Percentage | 15.3 | 17.7 | 16.1 | 77.7 | 76.4 | 78.6 | 7.0 | 5.9 | 5.3 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
With regard to children, the numbers recommended for treatment under the
Council's tuberculosis scheme during each of the last five years were respectively
1,069 in 1929,1,121 in 1930, 1,201 in 1931,1,120 in 1932 and 967 in 1933. In dealing
with surgical cases, arrangements have been continued for the immediate admission
to residential institutions of children suffering from tuberculosis of the hip, spine
and other bones.
Of the 967 children (i.e., patients under 16 years of age) referred to the Council
in 1933, 921 were accepted for treatment, and 46 were not accepted or were withdrawn
; 62 of the accepted cases for various reasons failed to enter institutions after
acceptance. There were 811 children under treatment at the beginning of the year,
and 819 children were admitted during the year, making the total number of children
treated in 1933 (exclusive of cases in the Council's general hospitals) 1,630, compared
with 1,905 in 1932. The number of cases under treatment on 31st December,1933,
was 787. distributed as follows :—
Diagnostic
observation
of children.
London County Council special hospitals 605
Voluntary institutions 138
London Countv Council general hospitals 44
As regards the children in general hospitals, with very few exceptions, such as
cases in which the parents insist on the child's remaining in London, these are
generally acute cases, not fit for immediate transfer to a sanatorium.
Continuing the effort not to regard "tuberculosis" as the provisional diagnosis
in all cases of delicacy in childhood, the attention of the metropolitan borough
medical officers of health was, during the present year, directed towards the more
careful selection of cases submitted for diagnostic observation in residential institutions.
Greater attention has been paid in the dispensaries to X-ray examination
and to tuberculin reactions and, other than in emergencies, it has been the policy
not to accept children for institutional observation unless full investigations have
been carried out previously. The metropolitan borough tuberculosis officers have
co-operated in this work and the result is shown as under:—
Year.
Number of
diagnostic
observation cases.
Number in which
diagnosis of
tuberculosis was
confirmed.
Number in which
diagnosis was not
confirmed.
1932 164 17 147
1933 73 23 50