View report page

5
cases has been visited, sometimes repeatedly, by the Deputy Medical
Officer of Health together with your Chief Sanitary Inspector or the
District Sanitary Inspector. The object has been to understand the
complete problem of the individual concerned and to determine what
steps can be taken to enable him to continue his life in comfort, in his
own home, in the neighbourhood to which he is accustomed. This is
often achieved in conjunction with the doctor in charge of the case by
providing nursing in the home and by seeking the help of various services
supplied either by the London County Council, such as the Home Help
Service, or by voluntary agencies such as the British Red Cross Society
and the Women's Voluntary Service, or through the services which the
Borough itself may provide. In most cases we have been able to achieve
the aims set out above, but where this has been impossible we have
secured admission to hospital or an institution. I think we have been
able to bring considerable help to a number of people but I feel, nevertheless,
that there is much more that we could do. I should like to
feel that we had assisted in ameliorating the loneliness from which many
old people suffer, that meals could be provided to them more often, or
that arrangements could be made to supply meals where, by reason of
lack of facilities, an aged person is unable to prepare a meal in his own
home. I should like, too, to see holidays provided for old people as
apart from actual convalescence. These are thoughts that occur to me
immediately, but they are by no means comprehensive and I hope in
conjunction with the voluntary agencies in the Borough to give further
consideration to these possibilities.
Your Public Health Department has also given careful consideration
to the problem of persons in the Borough who are notified as suffering
from tuberculosis. The following figures show the position in the
Borough over a period of the last five years:
No. of cases
on Register.
New notifications
received during
year.
No. of
Deaths.
Population.
1946 642 114 34 89,720
1947 644 96 42 95,650
1948 668 99 39 95,480
1949 668 113 32 97,090
1950 774 105 27 97,400
Tuberculosis is not an acute infectious disease which plays its course
in the question of a few days or weeks. A tuberculous person may
remain infectious for a large number of years and it is important that
the Department should always be aware of the number of persons in
the Borough suffering from this disease and that steps should be taken
to secure that their living conditions are such that they are unlikely
to spread infection. This is no easy task in a Borough such as Hampstead,
where there are no less than 4,135 families awaiting rehousing.
I hope in due course to be able to place before you a comprehensive
survey recording the number of persons notified as suffering from
tuberculosis and an estimate of the proportion who arc infectious and
some indication of the conditions under which they are living. Tuberculosis
is probably the most serious endemic disease with which we have