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
Deptford 1927
Annual report on the health of the Metropolitan Borough of Deptford
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families, or over 16 per cent., were living three families per house; i.e.,
274 houses contained three families each. 128 families were living
four families per house, and 20 families five per house.
In the body of the Report I have given a table in which will be
found the names of the streets examined, and the details. Amongst
the 2,832 houses there were 264 cases of overcrowding, on the RegistrarGeneral's
definition. At the lowest estimate, 3,378 families, or 69 per
cent. of the 4,851 families should have a house or flat.
There are some 18,000 structurally self-contained dwellings in
the Borough and 28,000 families.
We believe that the 2,832 houses in question give a fair index of
the conditions in the majority of the wards of the Borough.
The worst conditions were found as the result of complaint.
(See in the Report.)
Here we may give a table, kindly prepared by Dr. N. M. Donnelly, Tuberculosis Officer, dealing with the sleeping accommodation of 196 of the cases of Tuberculosis notified during 1927:—
| Separate room | One other in room | Two others in room | Three others in room | Four others in room | Five others in room | Separate bed | One other in bed | Two others in bed | Three others in bed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46 Non-pulmonary cases | 8 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 18 | 19 | 7 | 2 |
| 51 Pulmonary cases (not known if T.B. in sputum) | 14 | 26 | 7 | 4 | - | - | 18 | 28 | 5 | - |
| 99 Pulmonary cases with T.B. in sputum | 36 | 35 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 40 | 44 | 12 | 3 |
The Borough's Needs.
We need the immediate erection of a large number of five-storey
buildings such as Blake House, erected by the County Council on the
Watergate Street area. Not less than fifty such buildings should be
erected each year following the demolition of each part of the condemned
areas. Certain families displaced from the demolished areas should be
promoted to houses vacated by those who enter the said buildings.
Each year a faithful and painstaking record would be made by your
officers to ascertain the exact moment at which further new buildings
would no longer be required.