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administrative work. 55
Distributing the deaths according to the characters of the institutions (see below) it
appears that there was a slight decrease in the proportion of deaths in the Hospitals of the
Metropolitan Asylums Board, and increases in all others. The increase in Voluntary
Institutions was nearly 10 per cent.
Deaths
Percentages of all
Deaths (corrected)
Kate maintained— 1909. 1909. 1904-08.
Hospitals of Metropolitan Asylums Board 25 1.2 1.3
Poor Law Institutions and Infirmaries 356 18.1 17.3
Lunatic Asylums 57 2.9 2.4
Supported by Voluntary Contributions—
Hospitals and Homes (excluding Nursing Homes) 216 11.0 10.5
ADMINISTRATIVE WORK*
Prevention of Infectious Disease.—The calls made by the Staff with reference to all
kinds of infectious disease, numbered 6,325 last year, as compared with 6,712 in 1908, and
5,734 in 1907. The District Inspectors made 3,010 calls with reference to diseases formally
notified, except puerperal fever, as compared with 2,747 in the previous year, and the Women
Inspectors and Students, 3,315 (3,965 in 1908) calls with reference to puerperal fever and
diseases not on the schedule for notification. In 1907 the latter made 3,292 calls. Last year's
calls by the Women Inspectors related to—
Measles 1,005 (1,285) Chicken-pox 285 (202) Whooping Cough 479(163)
Diarrhœa 546 (1,188) Consumption 991 (1,119) Puerperal Fever 9(8)
(Italic figures—records for 1908.)
The total number of visits of all kinds by the whole Staff in each quarter of the past three
years is given below—
Quarters 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
1909 1,539 1,905 1,488 1,393
1908 1,440 1,509 1,901 1,862
1907 1,411 1,590 1,223 1,510
The number of patients removed to hospital for isolation and treatment, was 797 last
year, against 821 in 1908, and 694 in 1907. "Letters of Advice," covering extracts from
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, and the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, with memoranda
of precautions requisite to prevent the spread of infection, were sent out with reference to
41 patients who were treated at home, the number of such letters having been 46 in 1908, and
55 in 1907. In addition, 1 special communication was addressed to a midwife in charge of a
case of puerperal fever, as compared with 3 in the preceding year, and 6 in 1907.
Disinfection.—The disinfection of rooms occupied by persons suffering with infectious
disease is carried out by the Department, the formaldehyde spray being used. The rooms
dealt with during the year numbered 2,351 (including 227 after consumption), as compared
with 2,223 in 1908, and 2,552 in 1907. In 10 instances the necessary disinfection was
done privately, the efficiency of the processes employed being duly certified by the attendant
practitioners.
* Table 41 summarises the work of the District Inspectors not specially dealt with in the following paragraphs.