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
Dagenham 1957
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Dagenham]
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DOMESTIC HELP
The table below sets out the various categories of cases in which the service was
used and the number of visits paid by the organiser during the year.
For the purposes of comparison the figures for 1956 are included in brackets.
As will be seen, there was an over-all increase of almost 10,000 hours over the previous year although the number of cases served increased by only one.
| Type of Case | Number of Cases | Hours Help Provided | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maternity | 46 | (77) | 3,068 | (4,944) |
| Tuberculosis | 15 | (16) | 2,177 | (3,951) |
| Acute Sick | 64 | (60) | 4,712 | (5,435) |
| Chronic Sick (Aged | 352 | (329) | 52,563 | (39,598) |
| „ „ (Others) | 85 | (85) | 16,922 | (17,544) |
| Aged Not Sick | 7 | (7) | 797 | (721) |
| Others | 11 | (6) | 1,792 | (1,041) |
| Totals | 581 | (580) | 82,031 | (73,234) |
Number of visits paid by Organizer:— 1,613 (1,234)
Average number of Home Helps employed each week 74 (66)
Maternity
The number of maternity cases helped and the hours of help provided both show a
decrease. This is most likely due to the preference that many mothers show for having
their babies in hospital.
Tuberculosis
Here the service met a small though very essential need.
Care of the Aged
As in previous years the demand for service for the aged increased considerably.
More cases were served and many more hours worked than in the previous year. With
the increasing emphasis placed on the need to keep old people in their own homes the
demand for this type of case may be expected to increase. The service provided for
old people cannot be measured in terms of hours of work done as the home help in so
many cases is looked upon by the aged as a friend who visits them and helps to lessen
the burden of loneliness in their advanced years. The service is only made use of in
those cases where the relatives are unable to provide the necessary care.
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