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tions and nursing homes. Of the cases notified by private medical
practitioners, 4 were removed to hospital for treatment. Special
enquiries were made in every case in order to ascertain the cause
of the pyrexia, and in 11 instances the patients developed conditions
which should have caused them to be notified as puerperal
fever, and of this number 6 proved fatal.
In conformity with the suggestions of the Ministry of Health,
the Council made arrangements for the following facilities to be
available:—
1. Consultations with an obstetric specialist in connection
with the diagnosis of puerperal pyrexia and puerperal fever.
2. The home nursing of cases of these diseases.
3. Bacteriological examination in suspected cases of puerperal
pyrexia and puerperal fever.
Not one of these services was, however, requisitioned during
the year.
The above facilities were brought to the notice of the medical
practitioners in the Borough, and at the same time their attention
was directed to the institutional facilities provided for the treatment
of these diseases in the Metropolitan Asylums Board's
hospitals. There can be no doubt that unless the home circumstances
are satisfactory in every way, the most effective procedure
to be followed is the prompt removal of the patient to hospital.
Tuberculosis.
The work of the Tuberculosis Department during 1927
appears on pages 74 and 89. In the early part of the year the
National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis approached
Dr. Brand, the Council's Tuberculosis Officer, with a view to his
accepting the position of Senior Medical Officer to the Association
for a period of one year for the purpose of reorganising and carrying
out a campaign of propaganda in pursuance of the objects
for which the Association is constituted. The Council most
willingly consented to his accepting the office, and granted the
necessary leave, and they also placed on record their appreciation
of his valuable services and of the honour conferred upon him
by the National Association. It is gratifying to acknowledge that
his interest in the welfare of the tuberculosis work in Camberwell
has not suffered in consequence of his absence, as, in spite of the
onerous nature of the duties of the appointment, he has found
time to keep in touch with the work of the Tuberculosis Department
in Camberwell.
For the period of Dr. Brand's absence the Council appointed
Dr. Eleanor Gorrie, Assistant Tuberculosis Officer, to the position
of Acting Tuberculosis Officer, and engaged Dr. Margaret Darroch
as temporary Assistant Tuberculosis Officer.