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Report of the Medical Officer of Health. 157
Of the 68 deaths in the Workhouse, 22 were from Old Age,
16 from Measles, four from Cancer, seven from Premature Birth
and Developmental diseases, three from diseases of Parturition,
three from diseases of the Respiratory Organs, and 13 from other
causes.
In other places not Institutions 88 deaths occurred, 12 of
these being from Accidents, 10 from Cancer, 10 from Suicide,
seven from Tubercular disease of the Lungs, two from disease of
the Heart, six from diseases of the Respiratory Organs, three
from Old Age, two from Nephritis, two from Influenza, one from
Enteric Fever, and 23 from all other causes. 32 of these deaths
occurred in Private Nursing Homes, and three in the River
Thames.
There has again been a marked increase in the number of
deaths in Institutions, and to show that the increase has been
going on for some years, the following Table has been prepared.
The comparative percentages for London are also shown,
and it will be noted that in the 20 years 1888-1907 these increased
in London from 23.6 to 39.8, with an average of 30.2, and in
Wandsworth from 15.2 to 28.'7, with an average of 18.7.
In this Borough the percentage is lower than for the whole
of London, and this is what might be expected in consequence of
the social condition of the population, but in spite of the better
social condition, it is rather startling to find that over 28 per cent,
of the total deaths occurred in Institutions, and that for the year
1908 12.8 per cent, occurred in the Workhouse and Workhouse
Infirmary.
Compared with the 20 years' average, the greatest increase
has occurred among the deaths in General and Special Hospitals,
while the rate in the Metropolitan Asylums Board's Hospitals is
about the same.