London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Camberwell 1937
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camberwell.
This page requires JavaScript
91
rooms, nurses' office and lavatory, waiting rooms and lavatories,
boiler house, coal and coke store, office and staff mess room, staff
lavatories and bathroom, and garages.
The equipment to be provided is as follows:— Two Aveling-
Barford Disinfectors, one sterilizing and washing machine, one
power hydro, one power mangle, and drying horses.
Disinfection
The following is a summary of the work carried out by the disinfecting staff during 1937:—
| Number of houses visited following infectious disease | 1,326 |
| Number of visits to these premises | 2,702 |
| Number of houses visited following other diseases | 336 |
| Number of visits to these premises | 629 |
| Number of houses visited for miscellaneous purposes | 492 |
| Number of visits to these premises | 886 |
| Number of rooms disinfected. Infectious disease | 1,951 |
| Number of houses visited. Verminous | 980 |
| Number of rooms disinfected. Verminous | 1,320 |
| Number of articles disinfected (steam disinfected) | 60,819 |
| Number of articles disinfected (formalin) | 2,014 |
| Number of books disinfected | 787 |
| Number of articles destroyed | 2,230 |
| Weight of furniture, etc., destroyed | 4 tons 5 cwts. 3 qrs. 4 lbs. |
| Weight of unsound food destroyed (see Food Inspector's report) | 6 tons 2 cwts. 2 qrs. 3½ lbs. |
| Weight of dead animals destroyed | 5 cwt. |
Cleansing Station.
In the following table particulars are given of the attendances at the Cleansing Station during 1937. Every individual who attended received a bath and his personal clothing was disinfected.
| Vermin. | Scabies. | ||||||
| Adults. | Children. | Adults. | Children. | ||||
| Males. | Females. | Males. | Females. | Males. | Females. | Males. | Females. |
| 8 | 3 | 396 | 1,585 | 42 | 50 | 1,561 | 2,037 |
Scabies.
An increase in the number of cases of scabies has been observed
during recent years in children attending the London County Council
Schools.
Scabies occasionally appears in a form highly resistant to
treatment and in spite of the careful observance of the rules of
personal hygiene by the patient a recurrence of the symptoms may
take place.