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
Lewisham 1971
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
It has been the practice from time to time to take the service into offices, factories,
etc., in the borough. In 1971 a request was received from the Telephone Exchange
in Lewisham, and a team from the health department went into the Exchange to
offer and carry out smear tests on all women who wished to avail themselves of
the service.
Cervical smears are also taken by family doctors and when patients attend hospital.
| Place of Examination | No. of women examined | No. of women referred to G.P. with abnormalities or positive smear result |
|---|---|---|
| Well-women Cytology Clinics | 2,020 | 280 |
| Adult Screening Clinics | 285 | 28 |
| Family Planning Clinics | 3,271 | 65 |
| TOTAL | 5,576 | 373 |
NUnSINCi HUMtS
ment of Health and Social Security. The total number of beds provided is as follows:
| For chronic cases | 56 |
| For medical cases | 15 |
| For surgical cases (including 9 for abortions) | 14 |
| For expectant and nursing mothers (plus 8 cots) | 22 |
| Total (plus 8 cots) | 107 |
Regular inspections of these homes are carried out by officers of the Health
Department and, in the one instance, the Department of Health and Social Security.
EMERGENCY SERVICES
Certain staff of the Health Department are available outside normal office hours
through a Control Centre at Greenwich Town Hall—telephone 858 5001/2/3. This
arrangement extends both overnight and throughout the weekend. The vast majority
of calls received via this agency are for the District Nursing and Domiciliary Midwifery
Services but there is also a Duty Medical Officer and a Senior Public Health
Inspector on call on a rota basis. One of the more unusual calls received during
the year was a request to identify two large insects unpacked from a case of
bananas. There were found to be "mottled winged bush crickets" which are not
infrequently imported with bananas from the West Indies and which do not
constitute a hazard to health.
29