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ADMINISTRATIVE WORK.
ADMINISTRATIVE WORK.
The only change made in the Staff of Inspectors during the year was the engagement by the
Council (from August 1st) of the Visitor employed by the School for Mothers for "Birth Visiting."
Summaries (a) of the principal items of work carried out during the year by the District
Inspectors will be found in Table 53, (6) relating to Food, Housing and Miscellaneous Matters in
Table XIV., Appendix, and (c) of Classifications rf Outworkers, Factory and other premises,
and inspections made under the Factory Acts in Table XIII., Appendix.
Prevention of Infectious Disease.—The visiting and supervision of cases of infectious
disease was divided between the District Inspectors and the Women Inspectors, the former
taking the principal (notified) diseases and the latter puerperal fever, tuberculosis, and the
various non-notified infectious diseases.
The District Inspectors made 2,258 calls during the past year, as compared with 1,976 in
1912, 1,812 in 1911, and 2,098 in 1910. The increase noted last year in comparison with 1912
was due mainly to the prevalence of scarlet fever. Last year 777 patients were removed to
hospital, a considerable increase over the number removed in 1912 (523). In 1911, 435 patients
were isolated in hospital and in 1910, 406. The patients kept at home decreased from 53 in 1912
to 28 last year.
The Women Inspectors made 6,384 calls with reference to the diseases assigned to them,
calls in connection with tubereulosis constituting nearly one half of the total. Last year's total
was notably higher than that of 1912 (4,441), or even of those of 1911 (5,520) and 1910 (5,181),
when it was thought that the number of calls required had reached high-water mark.
1913. 1912. 1911. 1910. 1913. 1912. 1911. 1910.
Measles 1,171 1,425 1,846 3,051 Chickenpox 582 557 545 461
Whooping Cough 637 395 793 430 Diarrhoea 837 433 1,369 410
Consumption 3,149 1,608 959 991 Puerperal Fever 8 23 8 22
The number of visits made by the Women Inspectors for all purposes showed a slight
decrease last year, falling from 10,627 in 1912 to 10,592 in 1913. The latter figure, which does
not include the visits in connection with new-born children, represents the work of the two
Women Inspectors assisted (for three months only last year) by a student inspector. The
decrease noted is due to the absence of such assistance during the greater part of last year
rather than to any diminution in the number of visits required. It was found necessary to give up
all visits in connection with ringworm last year. The steady increase in the work of this section
of the Staff is shown by the appended figures:—
Quarters 1. 2. 3. 4.
1913 2,070 2,858 2,649 3,015
1912 2,644 2,837 2,322 2,824
1911 2,028 1,863 2,133 1,308
1910 1,878 2,425 1,493 1,483
Last year 136 patients suffering with measles and whooping cough were admitted to the
Hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, as compared with 107 in 1912 and 102 in 1911—
the first year patients were admitted for either of these diseases. The admissions for measles
numbered 100 (74 in 1912), for whooping cough 32 (the same as 1912), and for whooping cough
and measles (combined), 4.
No warning letters were issued to midwives last year, 6 having been issued in 1912, and 4
in each of the years 1911 and 1910.
Disinfection.—Last year 3,100 rooms were sprayed, as compared with 2,274 in 1912,
2,857 in 1911, and 2,941 in 1910. Disinfection was effected privately in 28 instances, as
compared with 25 in 1912, 10 in 1911, and 25 in 1910. Three hundred and forty-eight (348)
rooms were disinfected after consumption (318 in 1912), 226 in 1911, and 171 in 1910.
The bedding, clothes, &c., dealt with by the contractors weighed close upon 61 tons (50 tons
in 1912 and 1911), while the expenditure amounted to £1,226. Twenty-four complaints were
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