Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Report on the health of the Borough of Bethnal Green during the year 1927
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expensive health scheme by its low rateable value,
but its modest expenditure and substantial achievements
compare favourably with those of many
better-circumstanced districts.
THE HEALTH SERVICES IN THE BOROUGH.
Owing to the slow and unsystematic manner in
which our health organization has been developed,
there are many important health services outside the
ambit of the Borough Council, which is the local health
authority. These may be divided into those administered
by other public authorities (such as the London
County Council, Metropolitan Asylums Board, Board of
Guardians and London Insurance Committee), and
those run by private individuals or corporations (such
as general medical practitioners, midwives, nurses and
voluntary hospitals). The Medical Officer of Health
is dependent upon the courtesy of these agencies for
any information as to their activities. A brief list of
them is appended :—
GENERAL MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS.
There are 41 general medical practitioners with
consulting rooms in the Borough. Our relations are of
a friendly nature, and I have had the privilege of being
invited to meet the local practitioners at a meeting of
their organisation. In the absence of any official
arrangement for the collection of morbidity statistics,
I have suggested a voluntary arrangement which has
I think received the sympathetic consideration of the
local medical organisation. Certain information has,
in fact, been received from one doctor, which I gratefully
acknowledge, although it is of too restricted a character
to be published in this report.
NURSES.
The Shoreditch and Bethnal Green District
Nursing Association has its headquarters just outside
the Borough, but undertakes a great deal of nursing in
the Borough. Address: 80, Nichols Square, E. 2.
An account of the Council's arrangements with the
Association for nursing services will be found in the
Maternity and Child Welfare Section of this report.