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
Lewisham 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
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The work is solely concerned with the environment of the patients
and their home contacts and does not include the giving of advice as to
treatment or precautions to be observed, this aspect of tuberculosis
work being continued by the staff at the chest clinic.
The visits paid by the sanitary inspectors and infectious disease
visitors during 1952 is shown in the following table:—
Table 52
| W | N | S | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visits | 130 | 90 | 100 | 320 |
| Futile visits | 54 | 66 | 44 | 164 |
| Revisits | — | — | — | — |
| Total | 184 | 156 | 144 | 484 |
TB cases visited in 1952—conditions found
Table 53
| (o) Primary case in house | (b) Second case in house Non transfer | (e) Second case in house Inward transfer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social conditions: | ||||||
| Poor | 251 | 275 | 3 | 30 | - | 15 |
| Moderate | 208 | 24 | 13 | |||
| Superior | 42 | 3 | 2 | |||
| No information available | 18 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Not visited | 49 | 7 | 4 | |||
| Total | 342 | 38 | 20 | |||
| Of those visited: | % | % | % | |||
| Isolated in | ||||||
| (a) Separate room | 117 | 43 | 13 | 43 | 8 | 53 |
| (fa) Separate bed | 139 | 51 | 18 | 60 | 9 | 60 |
| (c) In bed | 84 | 31 | 14 | 47 | 1 | 7 |
| Satisfactory window area | 272 | 99 | 29 | 97 | 15 | 100 |
| Satisfactory lighting and ventilation | 269 | 98 | 28 | 93 | 14 | 93 |
| Satisfactory food cupboard | 180 | 65 | 21 | 70 | 10 | 67 |
| Separate water supply | 239 | 87 | 29 | 97 | 13 | 87 |
| Separate water closet | 223 | 81 | 29 | 97 | 12 | 80 |
| Separate bath | 177 | 64 | 26 | 87 | 9 | 60 |
| No bath | 38 | 14 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 20 |
| Defects requiring attention | 36 | 13 | 7 | 23 | 3 | 20 |
With regard to overcrowding in households where a case of
tuberculosis was reported only 6 cases were discovered during the year
(2 to the extent of half an equivalent person, 2 by one person, 1 by two
persons and 1 by four persons). In a further 12 cases the equivalent
number of persons equalled the permitted number, in 10 it was a
half-person below and in 35 it was one person below the permitted
number. The total number of cases assessed was 293.