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
East Ham 1927
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for East Ham]
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Visitor. The Medical Officer in charge of Infant Welfare visits
the Light Clinics periodically for purposes of general control and
guidance of dosage, and sees the infants systematically at the
ordinary Infant Welfare Clinics throughout the Borough.
The conditions so far referred for Light treatment from the
Infant Welfare Clinics have been:—Rickets, Enuresis, Malnutrition
and General Debility.
The statistics for 1927 were as follows :—
Number of Light Sessions held 47
Number of attendances at these Sessions1,213
Individual children treated 136
Of the 136 infants treated during the year, treatment was completed in 86 cases, with results as follows :—
| Total. | Improvement. | Attendance discontinued on account of:— | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marked. | Slight. | None. | Indifference of Mother | Intercurrent Illness | Closure for Summer Months. | ||
| Rickets | 38 | 8 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Malnutrition and General Debility | 46 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 5 |
| Enuresis | 2 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 1 |
In addition to the 11 cases referred to in the Table in which
attendance was discontinued on account of intercurrent illness,
there was considerable interruption of treatment due to colds and
coughs. The temperature of each child is taken once a week,
and oftener if considered necessary, and whenever any febrile condition
is found to exist, the child is not exposed to the UltraViolet
Rays.
Morning Clinics.
Special Clinics are held on certain mornings of the week at
the White House, to deal with cases that cannot be adequately
dealt with at the ordinary Infant Welfare Clinics, which, as has