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
Islington 1970
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Islington Borough]
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Case Conferences have continued to be held at fortnightly intervals to consider families with housing
problems likely to place them in danger of eviction. Twenty-five meetings were held and 152 families were
discussed. Almost all these were families living in local authority property (either Islington Borough or
Greater London Council) who were in arrears with their rent payments.
STUDENT VISITS
The number of students, medical, nursing, social worker and others, for whom arrangements are made to
visit various branches of the department, continues to increase. During 1970 these totalled 606 compared
with 471 in the previous year. It is considered worthwhile to continue to arrange for these visits as a means
of providing a knowledge of the work of a Public Health Department to students from a variety of
disciplines and in the hope of laying a foundation for co-operation with workers in other fields in the
future.
As in former years, we were pleased to welcome girls from local schools in the Council's day nurseries
where they gave voluntary help.
EMERGENCY TELEPHONE ARRANGEMENTS
The Council continued to use the Admissions and Doctors' Inquiry Service situated in the Whittington Hospital. The service deals with calls for health services after office hours, at week-ends and during bank holidays. This service is shared with the London Boroughs of Camden and Haringey. Details of the calls dealt with are given below.
| 1970 | 1969 | |
|---|---|---|
| Domiciliary Midwifery | 239 | 318 |
| Mental Health | 569 | 596 |
| Home Nursing | 244 | 263 |
| Infectious diseases | 2 | 2 |
| Other | 79 | 42 |
| Total | 1,133 | 1,221 |
EMERGENCY TRANSPORT
Midwives and mental health social workers were able to make use of special car hire facilities.
CO-OPERATION WITH THE CHILDREN'S AND WELFARE DEPARTMENTS
Residential establishments are visited regularly by a senior medical officer. The premises and the
children's medical records are inspected and informal advice is given to the house-parents on hygiene and
other related matters. Children who are handicapped or are at risk of developing a handicap are followed-up
and, where appropriate, a report from a hospital consultant is obtained. The senior medical officer's reports
on the homes are passed to the Children's Officer for his consideration.
68 visits were made during 1970.
Residential establishments for the elderly are also visited by a senior medical officer accompanied by a
senior public health inspector. Nine such visits were made in 1970.
The Children's Officer seeks the assistance of this department in his preliminary enquiries about Islington
residents who have applied to adopt or foster a child. The Health visitor for the district is asked if she
knows the family and if so to submit a report.
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