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 death-rates in North Kensington both from phthisis and other forms of tuberculosis were
more than twice as great as the rates in the South, and the heaviest mortality in the North under
both heads fell on the Wards of Golborne and Norland, which contain the largest proportion of
persons in extreme poverty.
A summary may be given here of the Table in the Appendix, which contains the number of
persons dying in the successive age periods of life from tubercuolsis:—
Deaths from Tuberculosis in Age Periods.
Age Periods. | Under 5 years. | 5 to 15. | 15 to 45 | 45 and upwards. | Total. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of Deaths from | Pulmonary Tuberculosis | 4 | 8 | 103 | 74 | 189 |
Other Forms of Tuberculosis | 32 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 51 |
The bulk of the deaths from phthisis occurred to the number of 103 between the ages of 15
and 45 in the best working years of life. A large majority of the deaths from other forms of
tuberculosis took place in children under the age of 5 years.
The place at which death occurred affords some indication of the provision made in institutions for persons in the last stages of tuberculous disease:—
Place of Death. | Number of Deaths from | |
---|---|---|
Pulmonary Tuberculosis. | Other Forms. | |
Kensington Infirmary | 66 | 18 |
Patient's Home | 77 | 17 |
General or Children's Hospitals | 5 | 7 |
Lunatic Asylums | 10 | 2 |
Brompton Hospital | 1 | 0 |
Other Institutions for the Sick | 23 | 6 |
Other places beyond the Borough | 7 | 1 |
Total | 189 | 51 |
105, or considerably more than half the total deaths from consumption, and 33 or two-thirds
of the deaths from other forms of tuberculosis occurred in institutions for the sick.
Tuberculosis Regulations.—All previous Regulations in regard to the compulsory
notification of consumption have now been superseded by the consolidating Order known as the
Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1912, which came into force on February 1st, 1913.
By the new Order compulsory notification has been extended from consumption or tuberculosis of
the lungs to all forms of tuberculosis. In addition to the primary certificate (on the form
described in the Regulations as Form A), which every medical practitioner is required to send to
the Medical Officer of Health on first becoming aware that a patient is suffering from tuberculosis,
the following notifications are required, viz.: I. Weekly lists of cases of tuberculosis admitted to or
discharged from Poor Law Infirmaries or Institutions, and from Sanatoriums which for the
purpose of the Regulations mean residential institutions approved by the Local Government Board
under the National Insurance Act, 1911, for the treatment of tuberculosis. Admissions are notified
on Form C.; discharges on Form D. II. On Form B. School Medical Inspectors are required
to furnish weekly lists of children examined in school and found to be suffering from tuberculosis.
Number of Notifications. | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A. | B. | c. | D. | Before Feb. 1st. | Total. | |
Pulmonary Tuberculosis | 747 | 7 | 104 | 116 | 162 | 1,136 |
Other Forms | 216 | 14 | 18 | 25 | 0 | 273 |
Totals | 963 | 21 | 122 | 141 | 162 | 1,409 |