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Board. It is fair to say that under this arrangement the specially
urgent cases were promptly removed, so that it was only a few of the
less urgent cases which suffered from the delay referred to.
A visit and enquiry was at once made to the patient's home,
and we based our conclusions on considerations of (a) the risks to other
members of the. family if the sufferer was not isolated in hospital,
when satisfactory home isolation was impossible; (b) the state of the
pati.ent and severity of attack; (c) the industrial and wage-earning
circumstances ot the family, and the possibility of work being
stopped or curtailed in respect of one or other member of the family,
if the patient is nursed at home; and (d) the ability and competence
of the mother or other adult to give the sufferer reasonably proper
attention and services if kept at home.
The arrangement made in 1919 for securing the services of a
visiting nurse in connection with cases of Measles, Whooping Cough,
Summer Diarrhoea and Ophthalmia, occurring amongst infants and
young children, proved very useful during the year. It
is, however, certain that during a severe epidemic of
Measles or Whooping Cough the arrangement with a nurse who is
already undertaking other nursing duties will not suffice, and the
Ranyard Nurses Mission have undertaken on these occasions, if and
when so ordered by the Borough Council, to provide temporarily
an additional nurse at the low cost of two guineas per week.
DIARRHCEA AND ENTERITIS.
There were 12 deaths from this disease among children under
two years of age. The death rate is best expressed as the proportion
which the deaths under two years of age from these diseases form to
a thousand births. The rate is 11 2, which compares favourably with
the rate for London generally. In 1921 meteorological conditions
did not favour a low rate.
INFLUENZA.
The deaths directly ascribed to this disease numbered 8.
Nurse Ager paid visits to a few cases reported to various Officials
of the Council.