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
Kensington 1915
Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health 1915
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For the sake of brevity, the action taken during the year for the prevention of consumption may be summarised in tabular form as follows :— I.—The Number of Visits paid during the year.
| a. First visits after notification (pulmonary) | 405 |
| b. Subsequent visits | 818 |
| c. Visits to other cases of tuberculosis | 208 |
| Total visits paid during the year | 1,431 |
| 11.—Provision for Home Treatment. | |
| Bedsteads and bedding lent | 21 |
| III.—Disinfection after Death or Removal to Hospital. | |
| Cases where bedding, etc., was disinfected by steam | 165 |
| Number of rooms disinfected | 249 |
| Number of rooms stripped | 9 |
| IV.—Children attending the elementary schools and notified to the Medical Officer (Education), London County Council, as living in contact with consumptive persons | 213 |
| V.—Specimens of Sputum from suspects examined bacteriologically by the Lister Institute at the expense of the Council | 115 |
At the first visit a printed card of advice is left, and the particulars as to the history, home
surroundings and treatment obtained are subsequently entered on the case sheets containing the
notes of every patient notified. Second visits are paid with the object of obtaining for patients the
treatment they require, and of seeing that the advice given is carried out. 144 sputum cups have
been purchased by the Council during the year for the use of consumptives. The greater number
of these cups have been distributed at the Tuberculosis Dispensary; the remainder have been taken
to the homes of consumptive patients by the Lady Inspectors.
For the purpose of preventing the spread of infection in families, additional bedsteads with
bedding are provided by the Council free of charge, and offered to those who need them by the
Lady Inspectors. At the end of the year 21 of the Council's beds were in use.
The Tuberculosis Dispensary. —During the year 1915 consumptive persons residing in
the Borough to the north of Kensington High Street received treatment at the Tuberculosis
Dispensary, 119 Ladbroke Grove. The institution is under vpluntary management, but the
Committee includes members of the Borough Council and the Board of Guardians. Provision is
made for the medical examination of contacts and the visiting of patients in their homes, both by
the Medical Officers and by the Dispensary Nurses. Co-operation with the Public Health
Department and various voluntary agencies has been secured by the weekly meeting of Case
Committees, which are attended by representatives of voluntary societies and by the Council's Lady
Inspectors or Medical Officer of Health.
The Board of Guardians.—lmportant work is carried out by the Board of Guardians in
the admission to the Infirmary of advanced and highly infectious cases of consumption. Wards are
set apart with accommodation for some 60 consumptives, and from the notifications received it
would appear that 103 phthisical patients were admitted from homes in Kensington during the
year. That many of these patients were in the last and most infectious stages of the disease may be
inferred from the fact that 60 deaths from phthisis occurred in the Infirmary during the year.
The Insurance Committee -During the year 45 insured consumptives were sent from
Kensington by the Insurance Committee for the County of London to residential institutions for
the treatment of consumption.