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 1957
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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' Heart Cases '
Probably the most marked difference shown in Table (ii) and Diagram "A" is in respect
of ' rheumatic heart' cases. Some indication of the attitude prevelant in the 1920 s is
given in the following comment by a member of my staff who spent an official life time
in the school health service.
Table (iii)—Poliomyelitis, 1920-1929
| Year | Notifications | Admissions to M.A.B. Fever Hospitals | Discharges and deaths— Queen Mary's Hospital, Carshalton | Admissions of post poliomyelitis cases to L.C.C. special schools for P.H. pupils |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 | 42 | 6 | 32 | 196 |
| 1921 | 55 | 1 | 42 | 152 |
| 1922 | 36 | 3 | 32 | 110 |
| 1923 | 110 | 7 | 50 | 94 |
| 1924 | 123 | 10 | 66 | 110 |
| 1925 | 51 | 2 | 82 | 97 |
| 1926 | 96 | 13 | 62 | 106 |
| 1927 | 80 | 15 | 59 | 101 |
| 1928 | 47 | 9 | 73 | 108 |
| 1929 | 65 | 11 | 54 | 85 |
'My first direct and responsible experience of P.H. schools or P.D. (physically
defective) schools as they were then called, was at the Cloudesley. I was horrified to
find that the teaching staff had so conscientiously taken to heart the need for care of
these children that a very high proportion including all the heart cases were not allowed
to take any exercise at all and had to sit and read at any break intervals. It took a long
time to introduce graduated exercises and games, and dispel the idea that every heart
case was liable to drop dead if he exerted himself. I fear some of our school doctors
contributed to this attitude and were not as well up on their cardiology as they should
have been. For instance in the Robert Blair (then Blundell Street) School, the Head
presented seven boys who had all been forbidden all games and drill because of heart
murmurs by previous M.O.s. I put them all back on to full activities at once with
excellent results. Perhaps I was lucky to have been taught by Sir Thomas Lewis and
Frederick John Paynton at U.C.H.! Some paediatricians still seem to think that we
cotton wool all children in P.H. schools and recommend ordinary school for unsuitable
cases, which is why I always urge upon our M.O.s not to be intimidated by consultant
status or big names. The School M.O. is the one who knows conditions in both the
ordinary and special schools and therefore is the best judge.
' The children themselves showed on occasion that they were ready for a more
active life as is shown by the fact that a boy who attended a school for physically
handicapped children on account of his heart condition and who was conveyed to and
from school each day by ambulance told a consultant that at the week end he had
" Cycled to Southend, Doctor".'
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