London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Dagenham 1957

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Dagenham]

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OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
At the end of the year there were 6 patients remaining on the register for Occupational
Therapy. The great majority of the patients shown in the table below were up
for a minimum of 4 hours a day and all of them had had treatment in hospital.
Some difficulty was experienced in selling the work done by the patients and this
limited the scope and effectiveness of the occupational therapy. Although there was
a greater demand for goods during the two or three months preceeding Christmas, the
demand was never sufficient to enable the patients to be fully occupied and at times some
of them discontinued therapy. It is unfortunate that the difficulty of disposing of goods
prevents the patients from taking full advantage of their occupational therapy, particularly
as a number of them appreciate the therapy as a means to recovery rather than a
way to earn extra money.

Occupational Therapy for domiciliary chest cases

The following is a summary of work carried out from January 1st to December 31st, 1957.

Total of PatientsTotal of New PatientsTotal of Visits
January20777
February20159
March20673
April23454
May265128
June22159
July18161
August22682
September25380
October273115
November29251
December23190