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29
The movement in favour of the inclusion of Infantile Ophthalmia
in the schedule of compulsorily notifiable diseases is rapidly
becoming widespread. Up to last August 50 sanitary district
had adopted the measure, and the Local Government Board has
notified its readiness to authorise every local authority to take the
same course whenever they apply. A conspicuous and recent case in
point is the action of the London County Council in making the
disease compulsorily notifiable within the Administrative County of
London.
So far as the practice of certified midwives is concerned, there
is already in existence a method of notification demanded by one of
the rules of the Central Midwives' Board, which requires that every
certified midwife shall advise the parents that medical assistance
should be obtained in every case of inflammation of the eyes of the
infant, however slight. This advice must be given in writing in a
prescribed form, and a copy must be sent to the local supervising
authority within 24 hours. Notification would not only bring information
to the Public Health Authority of cases which at present
are not notified to any one, but it would also render more complete
the provisions for securing continuous and efficient treatment of the
child, who may be at present notified under the rule above referred
to. The provisions for the prompt medical treatment and skilled
nursing of the notified cases would have to be made under the Public
Health Act of 1891, in probably only a few cases.