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

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Kensington 1889

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]

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37
diseases (imbeciles and idiots), the accommodation being for 6060
all of which are referred to in the Chairman's report, but do not
call for mention here ; but it may be mentioned, as stated by the
Chairman, that an eminent authority in the Registrar-General's
Department at Somerset House, " in a paper dealing with the
statistics of insanity in England, read before the Statistical
Society,"pointed out that," if the Tables given by the Lunacy
Commissioners were as complete and as instructive as are those
published by the Statistical Committee of the Asylums Board, it
would be a comparatively simple matter to calculate the precise
effect upon the existing numbers of the insane in England and
Wales of the reduced death-rate in asylums."
Appended to the Chairman's Report are returns (a) of the
various institutions and establishments under the Board's control,
etc.; and (b) a statement of receipts and expenditure for the
year. The total expenditure was £357,819 6s. 3d., viz.,
maintenance account £79,496 7s. 2d., and common charges
account £278,322 19s., 1d. A large sum, doubtless; but, in
addition to the ambulance service on land and river, including
the maintenance of steamers and wharves, the Managers have
provided accommodation to the extent of 10,273 beds, viz., for
imbeciles, etc., 6080; fever pitients, 2463; small-PDX patients
1150; and training ship (boys) 600.
REPORT OE THE STATISTICAL COMMITTEE.
The valuable and interesting annual report of the Statistical
Committee opens with a gratulatory reference to the legislation
of 1889, which provides for "the admission into the Minagars
Hospitals of any persons, irrespective of their means, who may
be suffering from small-pox, diphtheria or fever, and for the conveyance
in the Managers' ambulances to other places than the
Managers' Hospitals of persons suffering from any dangerous
infectious disorder; additional powers which give increased
importance to the statistics collated by the Committee."Mentioa