London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Kensington 1933
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
66
PART II.
The Work of the Centre
by JANET K. AITKEN, M.D., M.R.C.P.
and LUCY ELEANOR ELLIOTT, M.B., B.S., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.
In the six years 1927-33 during which the centre has been in existence, 1,463 cases of rheumatism or
potential rheumatism have been supervised. Although the centre was primarily established to deal with cases
from Kensington, it has been the custom to accept cases from other boroughs whenever advice was required.
The borough of Hammersmith have made a grant towards the expenses of the centre (which is held at the
Princess Louise Kensington Hospital for Children), and to the medical officers, in order that the centre may be
responsible for the supervision of certain cases referred from that borough.
| 1929-30 | 1930-31 | 1931-32 | 1932-33 | |
| Kensington | 128 | 177 | 266 | 290 |
| Hammersmith | 35 | 40 | 47 | 51 |
| Other boroughs | 10 | 17 | 12 | 20 |
| 173 | 234 | 325 | 361 | |
| — | — |
During the year 1932-33, 48 sessions have been held at the Princess Louise Hospital, and the average attendance has risen from 25-4 in 1931-32 to 28 in 1932-33 ; the total number of attendances during this year has risen from 1,254 to 1,344.
| Average attendance per session of Kensington patients | 22 |
| „ „ „ „ „ other „ | 6 |
| 28 |
The total number of attendances of patients during 1932-33 is as follows :—
| Kensington | Notified cases... | (a) | New | 24 |
| Old | 340 | |||
| Unnotified cases | (a) | New | 64 | |
| Old | 628 | |||
| Hammersmith | (a) | New | 23 | |
| Old | 211 | |||
| Hounslow | New | — | ||
| Old | 8 | |||
| Paddington | New | 6 | ||
| Old | 18 | |||
| Ealing | (a) | New | — | |
| Old | 3 | |||
| Various boroughs | (a) | New | 4 | |
| Old | 15 | |||
| 1,344 | ||||
The new Kensington cases in 1932-33 were recommended to attend the clinic from the following sources :—
| Invalid Children's Aid Association | 19 |
| School medical officers | 27 |
| Princess Louise Hospital | 11 |
| Other hospitals and institutions | — |
| Private practitioners | 5 |
| Notifications... | 17 |
| Public health department | 1 |
| Parents | 8 |
| 88 |
The disposal of cases which attended the centre may be summarised as follows :—
| Tonsillectomy at Princess Louise Hospital | 19 |
| Admission to Princess Louise Hospital | 26 |
| Admission to St. Mary Abbots Hospital | 1 |
| Admission to other hospitals | 2 |
| Special schools | 4 |
| Special heart homes— | |
| 1. Carshalton | 3 |
| 2. West Wickham | — |
| 3. Lancing | 1 |
| Convalescent homes | 21 |
| Referred to massage department for special chest expansion exercises | 5 |
Cases which were admitted to Princess Louise Hospital and St. Mary Abbots Hospital sometimes had
tonsillectomy performed during their stay in hospital when the acute stage was quiescent. Cases were admitted
to other hospitals either because they were over the age for admission to Princess Louise Hospital or because
they did not live in Kensington. The admission to convalescent homes is arranged through the lady almoner at
Princess Louise Hospital or through the Invalid Children's Aid Association.
An electrocardiograph has now been installed at Princess Louise Hospital and is used for the cases attending
the clinic. Already it has been extremely useful, especially in noting the progress of cases as to whether there is
an improvement or the reverse according to the tracings. Its value in diagnosis will gradually increase as the
tracings of individual cases are compared.