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
London County Council 1948
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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These figures and the returns from the clinics show a general decline in the
number of V.D. patients in 1948 compared with the previous year.
The table below gives the number of patients completing treatment and of defaulters as shown by analysis of the returns from the clinics for the year 1948:—
| Syphilis | Gonorrhœa | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| No. of patients discharged after completion of treatment and final tests of cure | 972 | 683 | 3,375 | 891 |
| No. of patients who ceased to attend after completion of treatment but before final tests of cure | 1,137 | 551 | 2,375 | 372 |
| No. of patients who ceased to attend before completion of treatment | 665 | 395 | 813 | 147 |
| No. of patients who died from the disease while still undergoing treatment | 8 | 5 | - | - |
The inception of the National Health Service and the revocation of the Public
Health (V.D.) Regulations brought to an end the V.D. scheme operated jointly by
the Councils of the London and Home Counties for more than thirty years. This
scheme arose from the necessity to take steps to combat the increasing menace of
venereal disease during the first world war and the years immediately succeeding it.
Thereafter, until the late war, a steady decline in the incidence of venereal disease
was achieved while at the same time the facilities made available were increasingly
used to the benefit of patients suffering from non-specific complaints. Conditions
following the outbreak of war in 1939, as might be expected, led to an increase in
venereal disease but it seems that the peak has been passed and a growing improvement
has taken place in the last two years.