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Lime house—Inquiry made, isolation required in serious cases, disinfection done
after the disease.
Poplar—Inquiry, isolation, and disinfection, as in other infectious diseases.
St. Saviour—No action except when requested.
Lee—Inquiry made, no isolation, no disinfection.
Leyvisham—Inquiry made and premises inspected, isolation insisted upon, disinfectants
supplied, and premises disinfected when requested.
St. Olave—Inquiry made, no isolation, disinfection done if patient removed to
hospital, in other cases, instructions left to disinfect.
St. Pancras—No action, this inquiry being made with a view to taking action.
NOTIFICATIONS FROM HOSPITALS.
On the 27th May a circular letter was received from the Clerk to the Metropolitan
Asylums Board enclosing, by direction of the Board, a copy of a report
which the Board received from their Statistical Committee with regard to the
notification of cases of infection arising amongst patients in hospitals.
Metropolitan Asylums Board.
Report of the Statistical Committee.
11th May, 1898.
(1) On the 18th December last, the Board referred to us (with power to reply)
two letters from the Vestry of the Parish of Hammersmith, with which
were enclosed copies of certain correspondence between the Medical Officer
of Health for Hammersmith and the Clerk to the Board, with regard to
the notification of cases of infectious disease arising in a general hospital
in that parish.
Questions as to the correct course to pursue in cases of this kind, the
Clerk to the Board informs us, have been frequently raised since notification
of cases of infectious disease became compulsory in London. The subject is
of considerable importance, and for that reason we have thought it desirable
not to reply ourselves to the Hammersmith Vestry's letter, but to report
formally to the Board, who, if they approve our views, may communicate
them not only to the Vestry, but to all the Metropolitan Medical Officers of
Health.
By section 55 (1) (b) of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, it is
provided that "every medical practitioner attending on or called in to visit
the patient shall forthwith, on becoming aware that the patient is suffering
from an infectious disease to which this section applies, send to the Medical
Officer of Health for the district a certificate, stating the full name and the
age and sex of the patient, the full postal address of the house, and the
infectious disease from which, in tha opinion of such medical practitioner,
the patient is suffering, and stating also whether the case occurs in the
private practice of such practitioner, or in his practice as a medical officer
of any public body or institution, and where the certificate refers to the inmate
of a hospital it shall specify the place from which and the date at which the
inmate was brought to the hospital, and shall be sent to the Medical Officer of
the district in which the said place is situate."