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

Edmonton 1938

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Edmonton]

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Table: "The volume of work at the School Clinic is steadily increasing; the number of individual children treated during each of the last five years is shown in the following table:—

"The volume of work at the School Clinic is steadily increasing; the number of individual children treated during each of the last five years is shown in the following table:—

1934175
1935220
1936275
1937303
1938313

Table: "The need for more satisfactory quarters is more urgent than ever, and I hope that it will not be long before a fully-equipped department will be available at a proper Health Centre. The work done at the Clinic is of prime importance, for it is of great preventive value and is undoubtedly responsible for the disappearance of certain deformities, such as knock-knee, which were formerlv common. Such work deserves to be carried out in good surroundings.

"The need for more satisfactory quarters is more urgent than ever, and I hope that it will not be long before a fully-equipped department will be available at a proper Health Centre. The work done at the Clinic is of prime importance, for it is of great preventive value and is undoubtedly responsible for the disappearance of certain deformities, such as knock-knee, which were formerlv common. Such work deserves to be carried out in good surroundings.

Girls.Boys.
Congenital Defects810
Birth Injuries——
Rickety Deformities22
Knock-Knees (non-ricketv)44
Postural Defects of the Spine910
Structural Curvature of the Spine3—
Flat Feet2415
Infantile Paralysis13
Sequelae of Acute Fevers——
Fractures42
Tuberculous Joints—1
Other Bone Diseases23
Other Conditions—3
Non-Orthopaedic97
6660
Total126

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The list of diagnoses shows nothing outstanding, though two negative
features are worth noting. Edmonton has been fortunate in escaping the
outbreak of poliomyelitis that has been severe in many parts of the country
and particularly Essex. Three of the four cases observed during the past
year have been admitted to hospital; two of them have done well, but in the
third case the paralysis is severe.
Deformities due to rickets are conspicuously absent. At first sight this
would appear to be satisfactory, but I regret to say that minor degrees of
rickets continue to be seen at the Child Welfare Clinic; no fewer than six
cases of bow legs were so severe that the children had to be admitted to
hospital for operative correction. Nowadays this ought not to happen, for
there are few diseases about which we know so much or that are so easy to
prevent. Although most of our cases of rickets are dealt with effectively
before they reach school age, it would be far better if there were no such
cases at all."
48