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
Bethnal Green 1915
Report on the sanitary condition and vital statistics during the year 1915 together with the report of the Chief Sanitary Inspector
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HEALTH VISITORS. Total Visits for the Year.
| Birth visits | 3,025 |
| Re-visits | 2,236 |
| Ophthalmia Neonatorum | 117 |
| Puerperal Septicaemia | 12 |
| Diarrhœa | 61 |
| Measles | 873 |
| School complaints | 1,353 |
| Special visits | 21 |
| Futile visits | 132 |
| 7,830 |
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE SCHEMES.
As will he gathered from the report of the Health
Visitors, the legal obligations of the Council are fairly
covered by the present Staff, but with this the Local
Government Board is not satisfied, and demands that we
shall extend our operations by the appointment of additional
officers. It is the view of the Board that we should
undertake the care of the mother during pregnancy and
during and after delivery, also the care of the child, not
merely during the few weeks after birth, but until it
has reached school age, when it comes under the medical
inspection of the school doctor. To carry out this plan
would certainly entail a large increase in the number of
Health Visitors and special arrangements for their
supervision.
The Local Government Board expresses much concern
at the ignorance displayed by the ordinary working-