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the number of collections rose from 607 in 1951 to 3,427 in 1954 and has
remained at about that figure since. Deliveries of course double the visits
paid as they are made at different times to the collections. No issue of
replacement articles is made and if the patient has not sufficient material,
such as bed linen, it is found that the National Assistance Board will
sometimes help in this matter, or additional help may be obtained from
the Red Cross or the WYS. The soiled articles, before being collected
from the house, are put into open mesh bags, which are numbered. At
the time of collection the person is asked if the bag contains woollen or
highly coloured articles and if so these are taken out at the disinfecting
station and washed separately by a special process. People are asked to
avoid the use of this type of article as much as possible. The bag on arrival
at the disinfecting station is put into the foul washing machine which is
capable of dealing with 40 lbs. dry weight. The average weight of the
bags as received is 12 lbs. Although normally washed in the bag in which
it is collected, if the case is known to be a particularly bad one the contents
of the bag are emptied out and washed loose.
In the washing machine the articles are first flushed in cold water, to
which soda ash has been added, for ten minutes to remove the worst of the
foul matter. The machine is then drained through the foul attachment
which is connected direct to the drain in the same way as is a water
closet. The articles are then washed for 15 minutes in warm water at a
temperature of 110°—120°F., to which soap flakes and soda ash have been
added. The machine is then drained off over a gully in the usual way.
The articles are then washed for 15 minutes in hot water at a temperature
of 180° — 200°F, to which soap flakes and sodium metasilicate have
been added. This is then drained off and the articles rinsed firstly in hot
water for five minutes, then in warm water for five minutes and finally in
cold water, to which blue has been added, for a final five minutes.
The articles then pass from the infected side of the station to the
clean side where they are placed in the hydro-extractor for ten minutes.
Each bag is then checked ; this is not done before this stage in order to
avoid too much handling of the foul articles by the staff. The articles are
now nearly dry, the final drying and sterilization taking place when the
articles are ironed on the calendar where they are subjected to a tempperature
of approximately 300°F. They are then placed on the airers
which are steam heated to a temperature of some 100°F. for thirty
minutes. The articles are then removed, again checked, folded and
placed in clean linen bags and returned.
Atmospheric pollution
Clean Air Act
Part of the Act was in force during 1957 and the rest of the Act comes
into force in the middle of 1958. A smoke inspector was appointed in
October 1957 and the successful applicant, Mr. Bevan, was already on
the staff of public health inspectors and had taken a course for the
special smoke certificate qualification. He was subsequently successful
in the examination.