Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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have gradually recovered a good measure of their former health under
the beneficent authority which compensates them for their invalidism,
The lot of the consumptive who is not entitled to such compensation is a
hard one.
(xiii) Arrangements for Finding Employment for Patients.—During
the war considerable success was achieved by individual members of the
"care" committee who adopted certain cases with a view to finding them
suitable employment. Posts such as stable hands, carmen and gardeners
in the country were obtained by personal influence. Outdoor messengers,
parkkeepers, &c., were selected as suitable occupations in town. During
1920 it has been almost impossible to find employment for the healthy and
much more difficult for the disabled. A measure of success has been
achieved (again in the case of ex-service men) by the joint scheme of the
Ministries of Pensions and Labour for the training of patients. But
even in this instance there have been extraordinary delays and disappointments.
In the case of boys leaving school the school care committees
working in conjunction with the Junior Advisory Committee of the
Education Authority have been of considerable service in finding suitable
apprenticeships for those young patients who are but slightly affected
with tuberculosis.
(xiv) Supply of Shelters.—The conditions are such that "shelters"
of the type supplied to patients in suburban or rural districts cannot be
made use of. Back yards are small, much overlooked and considerably
cut off from fresh winds and sunshine; they are, therefore, unsuitable
for this purpose.
(xv) Special Points as to Local Incidence of Tuberculosis.—There has
been no evidence to show that any one occupation has more influence
than another on the local incidence of tuberculosis. Westminster is
not the centre of any special industry. There are no great factories
employing thousands of hands engaged in the production of a particular
commodity such as can be found in certain of the boroughs of London as,
for example, in Woolwich, where so many are employed at the Arsenal,
although The Army Clothing Depot at Pimlico is the nearest approach thereto.
The tailoring industry in Soho conducted mostly by aliens working
in their homes on orders for the large shops, does not show the incidence
of tuberculosis which might be expected from the conditions in which
they work and live. The occupation which heads the list of notified
cases of tuberculosis is that of clerks. A great many clerks are employed
in Westminster in the large shops, banks, Government and business
offices. A fair proportion of those live in the City in order to be near
their work. Domestic servants, including those employed in hotels,
(3399)q D