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
Marylebone 1924
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone, Metropolitan Borough]
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39
The cost of carrying- out the requirements of the Public Health (London) Act,
1891, and the various regulations with regard to notification was £49 14s. Od.,
equal to 9s. 5d. per 1,000 of the population.
The cost and rate per 1,000 for each of the past 10 years are shown in the following table:—
| Year | Amounts paid to Medical Practitioners | Cost per 1,000 of Population | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |
| 1915 | 116 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 1916 | 101 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 1917 | 163 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 2 |
| 1918 | 86 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 6 |
| 1919 | 98 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1920 | 88 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 17 | 3 |
| 1921 | 82 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 7 |
| 1922 | 89 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 16 | 11 |
| 1923 | 40 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| 1924 | 49 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 |
Discharge Notices.—The number of certificates received from the Metropolitan
Asylums Board regarding the return of patients sent to hospital with infectious
diseases was 327, and referred to 418 cases. Visits were paid to these cases by
the District Inspectors, and advice given as to date of the return of children to
school and the advisability of obtaining treatment for and isolation of any suffering
from any sequel of a disease.
Diphtheria and Membranous Croup.
The number of cases notified was 122, the number in 1923 being 127. Of
the cases 3 died, and the case mortality rate was 2.4 per cent.
The number of cases per thousand of the population was 1.1.
The cases were more or less evenly distributed, as usual, throughout the
borough, and only in a few instances was it possible to determine accurately the
source of infection. In 7 cases the source appeared to be a member of the family
previously infected ; in 2 cases infection was counted to have been acquired in
school, and in 8 cases in an institution.
The number of swabs from doubtful cases submitted for bacteriological
examination was 1,607. A positive result was returned in 68 instances.
Of the registration districts, that contributing the largest number of cases,
naturally, since in respect of child population it is the largest, was Christ Church,
with 56. In All Souls the number was 23, in St. Mary 22, and in St. John 21.
As usual, the age groups 1-5 and 5-15 were those most affected, 49 of the
cases falling into the former and 42 into the latter group.
Two applications for a free supply of antitoxin under the Diphtheria Antitoxin
(London) Order, 1910, were received.
The nuisances detected during the course of investigating the notified cases
were : Dirty Premises, etc., 24. These were all remedied after service of notices.
Scarlet Fever.
There was no epidemic prevalence of this disease during the year; the number
of cases being 185, as against 126 in 1923.
The highest number of cases reported in any one week was 9.
The total deaths from scarlet fever numbered 2, and the number of deaths
per cent, of the cases was 1.0,