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
Kensington 1931
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
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The following table giving the number of rooms occupied by the families of definite cases of tuberculosis diagnosed in 1931 by the tuberculosis officer, and the number of occupants ascertained by the women health officers on their visits to the homes, is inserted to show the difficulties experienced in securing home isolation in many cases:—
| No. of Rooms. | No. of occupants. | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Total Cases. | |
| 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 12 |
| 2 | – | 9 | 10 | 17 | 8 | 8 | 3 | – | – | – | 55 |
| 3 | – | 1 | 5 | 12 | 12 | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | 36 |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | – | 39 |
| 5 | – | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 17 |
| 6 | – | – | – | – | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 4 |
| 163 | |||||||||||
This total falls 25 short of the total number of cases owing to patients living in boarding
houses, private hotels and large private residences not being included.
It is now seven years since this table was first given in the annual report, and it is interesting to note that the overcrowding which is so often associated with tuberculosis shows slight improvement as follows:—
| 1925. | Amount of room space per occupant | .55 |
| 1926. | ditto. | .58 |
| 1927. | ditto. | .59 |
| 1928. | ditto. | .61 |
| 1929. | ditto. | .67 |
| 1930. | ditto. | .73 |
| 1931. | ditto. | .70 |
The Following-up of Patients in Cases of Doubtful Diagnosis.
Patients often do not realise the importance of allowing the tuberculosis officer to complete
his diagnosis.
When a "suspect" has failed to keep an appointment, he is visited at home by a woman health
officer, who gives him a definite appointment with the tuberculosis officer at the dispensary so
that he will not be kept waiting. If he fails to keep this appointment, second and third visits are
paid for the same purpose, when, if of no avail, the case is dropped for the time being.
Examination and Systematic Supervision of Home Contacts.
There were 547 contacts traced by the dispensary service in 1931. Of these, 375 were
examined one or more times by the tuberculosis officer, 76 were examined by their own doctors
or had been recently examined at school, while 96 refused examination or failed to attend after
three appointments had been given them.
The endeavour to secure a second and subsequent examinations of the "home contacts" of
infectious cases after approximately one year's interval, especially young adult cases whose age
renders them more vulnerable, has been continued. These examinations are not included in the
above totals.
Dental Treatment of Tuberculous Persons.
Mr. A. Dreaper, l.d.s. (r.c.s.), who was appointed by the council in 1927 as dental officer,
continued to act in this capacity during 1931.
The work at the dispensary during the year is shown in the following table:—
| Dentist's attendances at the dispensary | 48 |
| Number of individual patients treated | 16 |
| Patients' attendances | 115 |
| Number of fillings | 3 |
| Number of extractions | 73 |
| Number of dentures arranged for | 9 |