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

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Hornchurch 1946

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hornchurch]

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8
(iii) Malvern Road, Hornchurch.
(iv) Athelstan Road, Harold Wood.
(v) Upminster Road, Rainham.
(vi) Station Road, Upminster.
The County Council has arrangements for the accommodation
of maternity patients at Oldchurch County Hospital, Romford, for
the following types of patient:—
(i) Complicated or difficult cases of confinement where hospital
treatment is essential.
(ii) Cases of confinement where, in the opinion of the
medical attendant, the patient cannot safely be confined
in her own home.
(iii) Patients who, after confinement, are found to be suffering
from Puerperal Pyrexia.
(iv) Pregnant women for whom hospital treatment is
necessary.
Patients contribute towards the cost in accordance with their
financial circumstances.
We have a considerable mutual problem in cases where the home
surroundings are so unsatisfactory, very often through overcrowding,
as to render domiciliary confinement practically impossible.
Our resources as the housing authority are naturally strained to the
utmost while the County as the maternity and child welfare
authority are in a like position with regard to their hospital resources.
Nevertheless, every effort is made to dispose of the difficulties which
do arise in this regard.
Hospital Services—Infectious Disease.
During the year 1:26 persons notified to be suffering from infectious
diseases and 50 observation cases needing hospital treatment
were admitted to the Joint Isolation Hospital at Rush Gren.
The average weekly number of patients from this District in the
Isolation Hospital was 10.
The large number of observation cases will be specially noted.
This illustrates practically the fact that the diagnosis of infectious
disease is not always a simple matter. It should be realised that
the admission of these cases necessarily throws a great strain on the
hospital resources since individual isolation is required for such
cases at the hospital until the case is fully investigated and classified,
but nevertheless since the admission of these cases removes a probable
source of infection from the community at a very early stage
so can the value of their admission be properly assessed. Our