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
Kensington 1884
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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72
of the number in the penultimate fortnight. In the succeeding
fortnight, ending July 18, the admissions were 51 and the transfers
were 51; total 102; and, not to enter, into minute details, it will
suffice to say that in the following ten weeks, to the end of September,
when information ceased to be published, the fortnightly
combined admissions and transfers were 40, 44, 38,27 and 14. The
cases of Small-pox from Hackney, admitted at all the Hospitals
in 14 weeks, to the end of September, fell to 65, as against 665 in
the previous 14 weeks (vide Table I), when all cases were
admitted at the Hospitals before any were transferred to the
Ships.
The question which will naturally be asked is, Whether the
instant and decisive reduction in the number of cases after the
middle of June was a coincidence merely, consequent on the
decline of the epidemic generally, or a result of the new arrangement
by which patients were admitted direct at the Hospital Ships
from their own homes without having been taken through the
streets converging upon the Eastern Hospital ? That there was
not such a decline of the epidemic as would account for so remarkable a falling off in the number of Hackney cases immediately after the system of direct removals began to come into operation, may be inferred from the following figures, shewing the number of patients in the hospitals, and the number of new cases admitted into the hospitals, in four weeks before, and four weeks after, June 21st:—
| Period Week ending. | Cases at all the Hospitals. | New Cases admitted. | Hackney Cases in fortnight. |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 30th | 1,057 | 370 | — |
| June 6th | 1,096 | 155 | 180 |
| „ 13th | 1,238 | 332 | — |
| „ 20th | 1,316 | 354 | 132 |
| „ 27th | 1,290 | 260 | — |
| July 4th | 1,368 | 266 | 17* |
| „ 11th | 1,242 | 179 | — |
| „ 18th | 1,152 | 141 | 10* |
* No record has been kept of the parishes and unions from which cases of
small-pox were admitted direct at the Hospital Ships in the first six weeks
(June 6th—July 18th). In the successive fortnightly periods ended June 20th,
July 4th, and July 18th respectively, 48, 257, and 178 cases were admitted—
many of them doubtless from Hackney.