London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Kensington 1900

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]

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35
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 Hospital51Heart Hospital, Soho1
St. George's Hospital81Hospital for Women, Euston Road1
West London Hospital14Great Northern Central Hospital1
Charing Cross Hospital5Throat Hospital, Golden Square1
St. Thomas's Hospital5Friedenheim4
Middlesex Hospital4St. John's Home, Lewisham1
King's College Hospital2St. Peter's Home1
Guy's Hospital2Hostel of God1
St. Bartholomew's Hospital2Home of the Good Shepherd, Clapham1
University Hospital1H.M. Prison, Holloway2
Westminster Hospital1H.M. Prison, Wormwood Scrubbs1
Western Hospital26Paddington Workhouse1
North-Western Hospital4Paddington Infirmary1
Grove Hospital3Chelsea Infirmary1
Fountain Hospital2Banstead Asylum14
South-Western Hospital1Hanwell Asylum12
London Fever Hospital1Colney Hatch Asylum6
Cancer Hospital, Chelsea3Leavesden Asylum6
Brompton Hospital (south wing)3Dartford Asylum5
North-London Consumption Hospital1Darenth Asylum4
Children's Hospital, Paddington4Caterham Asylum4
Children's Hospital, Great Ormond Street2Ilford Asylum4
Yictoria Hospital for Children2Manor Asylum, Epsom3
German Hospital2Cane Hill Asylum2
National Hospital2Clay bury Asylum1
Queen Charlotte's Hospital2Salvation Army Home, Hackney3
Bolingbroke Hospital1Incubators, Earl's Court Exhibition2
Bethlem Hospital1264
French Hospital1
Hampstead Home Hospital1

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.