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
Hammersmith 1967
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hammersmith Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
It is the practice for the school nurse, prior to the commencement of school term, to visit
families with a record of infestation to ensure that the children are clean and fit to return to
school. This practice has continued to be of considerable value.
Findings at Health Surveys - 1967
| School Roll - May 1967 | 26,394 | (26,194 ) |
| 1. Comprehensive Surveys | ||
| (a) Number examined | 26,067 | (25,259 ) |
| (b) Number (occasions) found verminous | 268 | ( 231 ) |
| (c) Percentage found verminous | 1.03 | ( 0.91) |
| 2. Selective Surveys | ||
| (a) Number examined | 14,308 | (14,522 ) |
| (b) Number (occasions) found verminous | 343 | ( 466 ) |
| (c) Percentage found verminous | 2.4 | ( 3.07) |
| 3. (a) Total times vermin found (l(b)*2(b)) | 611 | ( 697 ) |
| (b) Total % found verminous (3(a) as % of 1(a) † 2(a) | 1.51 | ( 1.70) |
| (c) Number of individual pupils found verminous | 330 | ( 332 ) |
| (d) % of individual pupils found verminous (of school roll) | 1.25 | ( 1-27) |
| 4. Action taken with verminous cases - | ||
| (a) Advice and/or Lorexane | 475 | ( 537) |
| (b) Further action | 136 | ( 140) |
| (c) 4(b) expressed as a % of 4(a) | 28.63 | ( 26.07) |
| Analysis of 4(b) cases - referrals of hardcore cases to bathing centres | ||
| Voluntary attendance at bathing centres - | ||
| Number of pupils | 136 | ( 140 ) |
| Number of statutory notices issued | - | ( - ) |
| Number cleansed at centres following statutory notices | ||
| Voluntarily | . | ( -) |
| Compulsorily | " | ( - ) |
| 5. Communicable Disease Surveys | ||
| Number examined for - Athlete's Foot | 259 | ( 638 ) |
| - Plantar Warts | 262 | ( 776 ) |
| Dysentery | - | ( 809 ) |
| Other communicable diseases | 2,844 | ( 3,923) |
| Total of (5) | 3,365 | ( 6,146 ) |
Infectious Diseases in Schools:
When a pupil is absent from school and the cause is either known or suspected to be due to
infectious disease, the Head of the school notifies the Principal School Medical Officer. These
notifications are uncorrected for diagnosis, but form the best available index of the trends of the
infectious diseases in the school community; they are the only figures available for diseases
which are not statutorily notifiable. The following is a table of the infectious diseases notified
by Heads of schools in 1967.
62