Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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The Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest.—In the Kensington portion
of the Brompton Hospital there were 98 deaths, including two of parishioners. The remaining
96 deaths, of non-parishioners, are excluded from the borough statistics.
St. Marylebone Infirmary, Notting Hill.— At this institution 522 deaths were registered,
all of which, except one of a parishioner, are excluded from the borough statistics.
St. Joseph's House, Notting Hill.— The deaths at this quasi-public institution, with the
exception of 2, of parishioners, are excluded from our statistics. They were 36 in number.
Outlying Public Institutions.— The deaths of parishioners at public institutions, &c., without the parish, which in the three preceding years had numbered 333, 286, and 321, were 283 in 1900. All of these deaths are included in the borough statistics. The deaths occurred at the several institutions as follows:—
St. Mary's Hospital | 51 | Heart Hospital, Soho | 1 | |
St. George's Hospital | 81 | Hospital for Women, Euston Road | 1 | |
West London Hospital | 14 | Great Northern Central Hospital | 1 | |
Charing Cross Hospital | 5 | Throat Hospital, Golden Square | 1 | |
St. Thomas's Hospital | 5 | Friedenheim | 4 | |
Middlesex Hospital | 4 | St. John's Home, Lewisham | 1 | |
King's College Hospital | 2 | St. Peter's Home | 1 | |
Guy's Hospital | 2 | Hostel of God | 1 | |
St. Bartholomew's Hospital | 2 | Home of the Good Shepherd, Clapham | 1 | |
University Hospital | 1 | H.M. Prison, Holloway | 2 | |
Westminster Hospital | 1 | H.M. Prison, Wormwood Scrubbs | 1 | |
Western Hospital | 26 | Paddington Workhouse | 1 | |
North-Western Hospital | 4 | Paddington Infirmary | 1 | |
Grove Hospital | 3 | Chelsea Infirmary | 1 | |
Fountain Hospital | 2 | Banstead Asylum | 14 | |
South-Western Hospital | 1 | Hanwell Asylum | 12 | |
London Fever Hospital | 1 | Colney Hatch Asylum | 6 | |
Cancer Hospital, Chelsea | 3 | Leavesden Asylum | 6 | |
Brompton Hospital (south wing) | 3 | Dartford Asylum | 5 | |
North-London Consumption Hospital | 1 | Darenth Asylum | 4 | |
Children's Hospital, Paddington | 4 | Caterham Asylum | 4 | |
Children's Hospital, Great Ormond Street | 2 | Ilford Asylum | 4 | |
Yictoria Hospital for Children | 2 | Manor Asylum, Epsom | 3 | |
German Hospital | 2 | Cane Hill Asylum | 2 | |
National Hospital | 2 | Clay bury Asylum | 1 | |
Queen Charlotte's Hospital | 2 | Salvation Army Home, Hackney | 3 | |
Bolingbroke Hospital | 1 | Incubators, Earl's Court Exhibition | 2 | |
Bethlem Hospital | 1 | 264 | ||
French Hospital | 1 | |||
Hampstead Home Hospital | 1 |
Other 19 deaths occurred without the borough, viz.: two of females by drowning, in the
Thames and Grand Junction Canal respectively; three of males in the streets; two of males on
railway premises; and seven of males, and five of females, on private premises.
Deaths from diseases of the zymotic class occurred at public institutions, without the borough,
as follows:—Western Hospital, 24 (diphtheria, 15; enteric fever, 4; scarlet fever, 3; measles, 2);
Grove Hospital, 3 (enteric fever); North-Western Hospital, 3 (diphtheria, 2; enteric fever, 1);
St. Mary's Hospital, 3 (enteric fever, 2; diarrhoea, 1); St. George's Hospital, 3 (enteric fever, 2;
measles, 1) ; Fountain Hospital, 2 (diphtheria); Children's Hospital, Paddington, 2 (diarrhoea);
Children's Hospital, Great Ormond-street, 1 (measles); West London Hospital, 1 (diphtheria);
London Fever Hospital, 1 (scarlet fever); South-Western Hospital, 1 (diphtheria); and Ilford
Asylum, 1 (diarrhoea).
UNCERTIFIED DEATHS.
Two deaths were uncertified either by a registered medical practitioner or by a coroner. The
cases were reported to the coroner. In England and Wales the deaths not certified were 1.9 per
cent. of total deaths ; the proportion in London was 0.6; in Kensington, less than 0.1.
The subject of uncertified deaths was considered, in the session of 1893, by a Select
Committee of the House of Commons, appointed " to enquire into the sufficiency of the existing
law as to the disposal of the dead, for securing an accurate record of the causes of death in all cases,
and especially for detecting them when death may have been due to poison, violence, or criminal
neglect." The recommendations of the Committee were summed up in ten paragraphs, of which
the first two were as follows:—
" (1) That in no case should a death be registered without production of a certificate of the
cause of death, signed by a registered medical practitioner, or by a coroner after inquest.
" (2) That in each sanitary district a registered medical practitioner should be appointed
as Public Medical Certifier of the cause of death in cases in which a certificate from a
medical practitioner in attendance is not forthcoming."
No action has been taken by the House, so far, to give effect to the recommendations.