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
Willesden 1920
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Willesden]
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No additional clerical assistance has been provided for this work or for the work in connection
with the provision of dentures to expectant and nursing mothers about to be undertaken as soon
as the scale is revised and settled, or for the general increase of the Clinic work, the attendances
being 9,873 for the 4 weeks ended 20th March, 1920, as compared with 6,997 for the 4 weeks ended
19th April, 1919 or an additional 41 per cent.
It will be observed that during the month of April, 122J hours overtime were worked at the
Clinics, which is in a large measure due to the operation of the new system as well as to the fact that
the Clinic Medical Officers are kept late thus detaining the clerks.
Recommendations.
(1) Revision of the Scale.
If the non part-payment scale above mentioned is adopted by the Committee the result will be that the estimated cost of milk would be as follows, in view of the above figures :—
| 12 weeks. | Estimated expenditure 52 weeks. | Estimated expenditure as provided in estimates, 1920-21. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | ||||
| £ | s | d. | £ | s | d. | £ | |
| Cost of Milk | 685 | 17 | 5 | 2,972 | 2 | o | 4,200 |
| Total Receipts | 397 | 18 | 2 | 1,724 | 5 | 5 | 1,371 |
| Total Cost to Council | 287 | 19 | 3 | 1,247 | 16 | 9 | 2,829 |
To the estimated expenditure shewn in Column (3) must be added a sum unknown representing
the value of the milk which would be accepted by people free, who are not prepared or are unable
to pay ¼,½ or ¾ cost on the present basis.
(2) The appointment of two 4th class clerks, one at each Clinic, at a salary of £52—£80 per
annum plus bonus.
GEORGE F. BUCHAN,
Medical Officer of Health.
APPENDIX E.
To the Health Committee.
4th May, 1920.
HEALTH VISITORS' WORK.
Work to be Done.
The 16 District Health Visitors time is more than fully occupied. At 20/3/20 each had an
average of approximately 700 Maternity and Child Welfare cases, 164 School cases and 69 Infectious
Disease cases, or a total of'933 cases under observation. The total cases under observation increased
by 1,407 between 24/1/20 and 20/3/20, i.e., in 8 weeks, and the average number of cases under observation
by each Health Visitor increased by 88.
During the past year the work has greatly increased.
It was not until 1917 that children over 1 year of age were visited and kept under observation.
When the 16 districts were arranged in 1918 there were only the children born in 1917 and 1918 under
observation. Those born in 1917 will not reach 5 years of age till 1922 and until then these cases
will continue to accumulate and additional staff will be needed if they are to be kept under supervision
and dealt with as required.
The birth rate is now increasing rapidly, there being 1,096 births in the first 3 four-weekly
periods of 1920 as against 516 in the first 3 four-weekly periods of 1919, or more than double. This
gives 4,749 births per annum which according to the Ministry of Health estimate of 400 births per
annum per Health Visitor would require 12 Health Visitors. As only half the time of the present
Health Visitors is occupied by Maternity and Child Welfare work, there are only 8 Health Visitors
available for this work instead of 12.
The number of visits to expectant and nursing mothers was practically nil until 1918, when
1,443 visits were paid, while in 1919, 9,382 visits were paid.