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
Camberwell 1958
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camberwell.
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| 0-5 | 6-15 | 16-65 | 65+ | Total | Grand Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. | ||
| Se(3) Burns/Scalds. | 1 . | ' | |||||||||
| On unprotected fires | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 9 | 27 |
| From liquids | 34 | 21 | 13 | 12 | 7 | 52 | – | 8 | 54 | 93 | 147 |
| Hot kitchen appliances | 5 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 21 | 31 | |
| Other | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 10 | 6 | – | 1 | 12 | 8 | 20 |
| Sub-total | 50 | 31 | 18 | 17 | 25 | 72 | 1 | 11 | 94 | 131 | 225 |
| (4) Swallowing. | |||||||||||
| Foreign bodies | – | 1 | 2 | – | – | 5 | 9 | 3 | – | 10 | 15 |
| Poisonous liquids | 8 | 2 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| Tablets | 8 | 5 | – | 2 | 1 | 3 | – | 2 | 9 | 12 | 21 |
| Sub-total | 25 | 10 | – | 2 | 2 | 6 | – | 2 | 27 | 20 | 47 |
| (5) Electric shocks/ Burns | – | 1 | 1 | – | 2 | 1 | – | – | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| (6) Coal Gas Poisoning | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 | – | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| (7) Miscellaneous Defective window sash | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | 12 | – | 4 | 1 | 17 | 18 |
| Falling objects | – | 2 | – | 1 | 3 | 6 | – | 1 | 3 | 10 | 13 |
| Other | 15 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 27 | 38 | 65 |
| Sub-total | 15 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 38 | 1 | 7 | 31 | 65 | 96 |
| Total | 212 | 141 | 87 | 70 | 143 | 396 | 30 | 168 | 472 | 775 | 1247 |
In one in every ten of the child casualties, foreign bodies,
poisonous liquids or tablets had been swallowed. Prompt
treatment prevented any fatalities, but in one or two cases there
was doubt as to whether anything dangerous had in fact been
ingested. The preventive lesson was learned notwithstanding.
There is a heterogeneous list of swallowed materials —nails,
glass, coal, methylated spirit, bleach, rat-poison, disinfectant,
perfume and, of course, aspirin tablets.
Structural defects which were easily remediable contributed
to some of the injuries to housewives; broken sash cords caused
12 out of a total of 18 such accidents.