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36
Boroughs other than Metropolitan.
Replies were received from 28 Boroughs, with populations ranging from
29,000 to 730,000, and an average death-rate from Phthisis for the last five
years from .94 to 2.06.
In these, notification has been in force for periods varying from one to
six years.
The fees paid are those usual in other infectious diseases, but some
Boroughs pay 1/- only when a second notification of the same case is received.
Costs.—Annual Average.
The costs vary from 7/6 in Exeter to £160 in Liverpool.
The system in Birkenhead is unpaid and voluntary, with the consequence
that no notifications have been received.
In Exeter, although the scheme has been in operation for three years, yet
during that time only ten notifications have been received. The population is
47,000, and the Phthisis death-rate 14, giving roughly, 65 deaths annually
from this cause alone. As no double notifications are received, the number is
one-twentieth of the deaths occurring from this disease.
In Huddersfield, the Medical Officer of Health has not received notice of
a single case of Phthisis outside of the death returns, nor a single sputum for
examination.
In Sheffield, notification has been compulsory since October, 1903. Before
that time, the annual cost was about £27, and this included a number of double
notifications. Since compulsory notification was introduced, the annual cost
has been £95, and, this, despite the fact that now no second notification is
accepted. It follows that less than one-quarter of the cases actually known
and recognised were notified.
Overlapping of Notifications.
Overlapping does not occur in 13 Boroughs, but occasionally in the rest.
Most are agreed that there is no abuse.