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
Paddington 1913
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Paddington, Metropolitan Borough of]
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institutional treatment. National Insurance Act, 1911. Application for Sanatorium Benefit—1912 and 1913.
| Total applications put in | 180 | ||||
| by men | 130 | ||||
| by women | 50 | ||||
| Applicants found ineligible | 17 | ||||
| Applications abandoned (5 of the applicants secured admission to private sanatoria.) | 21 | ||||
| Applications remaining incomplete | 18 | ||||
| by reason of removal from the Borough | 11 | ||||
| owing to death of applicant | 7 | ||||
| Applications granted | 119 | ||||
| Form of benefit granted— | |||||
| Domiciliary treatment | 7 | Admission to hospital | 7 | ||
| Dispensary „ | 4 | „ sanatorium | 101 | ||
Notes.— Five other patients were granted domiciliary treatment, but were subsequently admitted to hospital
and/or sanatorium. These have been included under the institutions.
Of the patients granted sanatorium admission, two declined to go in, and one refused to stay after twenty-four
hours. One patient to whom "hospital treatment" was granted was for some unknown reason never admitted.
Having regard to the preponderance of females among the notified tuberculous, to which
attention has already been directed, the number of females applying for the Benefit (50 out of a
total of 180, equal to 27.7 per cent.) was very small, and the proportion of women among those
admitted to sanatoria (25 out of 101, or 24.7 per cent.) was smaller still. The institutions to
which the patients were sent are shown below. The Downs and Winchmore Hill are the
sanatoria provided by the Metropolitan Asylums Board under agreement with the Insurance
Committee.
Institutions to which patients were sent:—
| Hospitals. | Sanatoria. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Brompton | 8 | Downs | 42 |
| Victoria Park | 4 | Mount Vernon | 19 |
| City of London | 1 | Winchmore Hill | 15 |
| University College | 4 | Extra-Metropolitan | 11 |
| Metropolitan | 1 | ||
Judged by the practice of sanatoria generally the length of treatment in institutions was
unusually short. The distribution according to length of stay in the institutions is as given
below. The average stay for the 69 patients discharged up to the end of last year was
2t months.
Duration of treatment of 98 patients admitted to sanatoria:—
| Died under treatment | 13 | |
| Discharged after stay of | ||
| Months. | 0— | 12 |
| 1— | 13 | |
| 2— | 22 | |
| 3— | 12 | |
| 4— | 7 | |
| 5— | 1 | |
| 6— | 1 | |
| 7— | 1 | |
| Under treatment at end of year | 16 | |
Attention should be called to the comparatively large number of deaths amongst the 180
persons applying for the Benefit. In seven instances the applicants died before any grant was
made (2 of those deaths occurring in the early days of the current year); 13 patients died at the
institutions to which they were admitted, and 5 subsequent to their discharge. The total
number of deaths was therefore 25 (equal to a fatality of 13.8 per cent.). The fatality in institutions
was equal to 12.3 per cent. on 105 admissions (to hospitals and sanatoria).