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
Harrow 1949
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Harrow]
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medical officer of health. Yet another way in which cases are brought
to light is by the death returns, quite a number of persons having died from
tuberculosis who had not been notified in the area in which they were last
living. In many cases this is due to their having removed from one
district to another after the disease had been first recognised and without
the transfer notification which should have been made having been sent.
The following table sets out the age and sex distribution of the patients who were notified in this district for the first time in 1949, dividing them into pulmonary and non pulmonary groups :—
| Primary Notification | Brought to notice other other than by Form A | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulmonary | Non-pulmonary | pulmonary | Non-pulmonary | |||||
| M | F | M | F | M | F | M | F | |
| Under 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 |
| 1- 4 | 4 | 2 | — | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 5-9 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | — | |
| 10-14 | 6 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 15-19 | 23 | 19 | 1 | — | 3 | 3 | — | 1 |
| 20-24 | 21 | 32 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 12 | — | 1 |
| 25-34 | 37 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 27 | 24 | — | 1 |
| 35-44 | 25 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 1 | — |
| 45-54 | 23 | 8 | — | — | 8 | 1 | — | — |
| 55-64 | 18 | 3 | — | — | 4 | — | — | 1 |
| 65 and over | 8 | 3 | — | — | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 172 | 120 | 11 | 9 | 67 | 50 | 3 | 7 |
Register.
The names of all patients notified or otherwise brought to notice
are entered on the register. While names are constantly being added,
some are being removed, and this for one of a number of reasons. The
patient might have left the district ; he might have died. In some cases
a patient is later discovered to have been notified in error and the notification
is withdrawn. Some patients recover completely. Before the
name of such a patient can be removed, it is necessary that the disease
shall seem to have been arrested for a number of years, and the names are
not removed until the lapse of an appreciable time after the disease has
reached a quiescent stage, one in which the patient has apparently
recovered. Most of the names removed are of those who have moved
from the district. Most of these are learned of either from the physician
at the chest clinic that the patient attended or from the medical officer of
health of the district to which the patients have removed. Information
is not received about all, and unless special enquiries are made, the
number accumulates each year of persons whose names are still on the
register of an area although the persons no longer reside there. These
inaccuracies result in there being an inflated figure of the number on the
register.