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
Willesden 1953
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Willesden]
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44
HOME NURSING (Section 25)
During 1953 this Service was administered by the Willesden District: Nursing Association on an
agency basis.
The demand on the Home Nursing Service continues to increase; in 1953 there were 5,046 new cases with 121,192 home nursing visits.
Home Nursing
| No. of New Cases | Total No of home visits paid | No. of cases on register at end of year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | |||
| Medical | 1,573 | 2,371 | 96,594 | 171 | 397 | |
| Surgical | 322 | 377 | 15,584 | 25 | 46 | |
| Infectious Diseases | 32 | 48 | 436 | — | — | |
| Tuberculosis | 112 | 75 | 6,961 | 4 | 8 | |
| Maternal Complications | — | 113 | 1,083 | — | — | |
| Others | — | 23 | 534 | — | — | |
| Total | 2,039 | 3,007 | 200 | 451 | ||
| Totals | 1953 | 5,046 | 121,192 | 651 | ||
| 1952 | 4,401 | 105,964 | 612 | |||
| 1951 | 3,763 | 103,551 | 519 | |||
| 1950 | 3,250 | 92,912 | 500 | |||
| 1949 | 2,872 | 83,762 | 407 | |||
DIPHTHERIA IMMUNISATION
During the year the Ministry of Health, in consultation with the Society of Medical Officers of
Health, decided to introduce a new form of Annual Return for Diptheria Immunisation.
Individual immunity tends to wane, and to assess how far a local population has been
protected, account must be taken of the proportion of children of each age who have received at some
time a course of injections, as well as the ages at which the courses were received.
The new form provides more information on the number of children injected and when this was
performed.
Number of children aged under 15 at 31.12.53 who had completed a course of Diphtheria Immunisation.
| Age at 31.12.53 | Under 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5-9 | 10-14 | Totals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Course of injections (whether primary or boosting) completed during last 5 years 1949-53 | 86 | 1,106 | 1,332 | 1,555 | 1,628 | 6,985 | 4,446 | 17,138 | ||
| Course of injections (whether primary or boosting) completed during the period 1939-48 | — | — | — | — | — | 5,082 | 5,382 | 10,464 | ||
| Approximate number of children (end of 1953) | 0— 5 | 12,186 | ||||||||
| 5—15 | 24,105 | |||||||||
| 36,291 | ||||||||||
SMALLPOX VACCINATION The following table shows the number of persons vaccinated or re-vaccinated during 1953.
| Under 1 year | 1 year | 2-4 years | 5-14 years | 15 years and over | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of persons primarily vaccinated | 888 | 80 | 36 | 31 | 114 | 1,149 |
| No. of persons re-vaccinated | 3 | 3 | 19 | 43 | 311 | 379 |
| Totals 1953 | 891 | 83 | 55 | 74 | 425 | 1,528 |
| 1952 | 900 | 84 | 72 | 92 | 681 | 1,829 |
| 1951 | 899 | 154 | 121 | 224 | 901 | 2,299 |
| Approximate number of children (end of 1953) | 0— 5 | 12,186 | ||||
| 5—15 | 24,105 | |||||
| 36,291 | ||||||