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
Southall 1939
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Southall]
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The following table gives the figures for the last eight years and the proportion of
new cases to re-visits.
Table No. 16.
| First visits | Re-visits | Average number of re-visits per patient | Total number of births in the District | Percentage of new cases to total births | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | 289 | 604 | 2.09 | 776 | 37.2 |
| 1933 | 264 | 782 | 2.96 | 734 | 35.9 |
| 1934 | 244 | 518 | 2.12 | 780 | 31.3 |
| 1935 | 265 | 867 | 3.27 | 835 | 31.7 |
| 1936 | 300 | 998 | 3.33 | 827 | 36.3 |
| 1937 | 407 | 1333 | 3.27 | 848 | 47.9 |
| 1938 | 531 | 2157 | 4.06 | 856 | 62.03 |
| 1939 | 506 | 2109 | 4.53 | 824 | 61.42 |
Of the 2,615 total attendances, 1,417 occurred at the Manor House centre and
1,198 at the Branch centre.
Of the 506 new cases seen during the year, 490 were pregnant women and the
remaining 16 were non-pregnant or post-natal cases. Of the 490 pregnant women 58
were either uncompleted cases at the end of the year or had left the district. These
therefore are omitted from this report which deals with 432 completed cases, 162 for
1938 and 270 occurring in 1939.
Of these cases 389 were normal and 43 showed abnormalities.
Table No. 17.
| Primipara | Multipara | Delivered at home | Admitted to hospital or Nursing Home | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primipara | Multipara | Primipara | Multipara | |||
| Normal cases | 136 | 253 | 46 | 174 | 90 | 79 |
| Abnormal cases | 21 | 22 | 2 | 6 | 19 | 16 |
Of the cases dealt with therefore 157, or 36 per cent., were primiparae (against
39 per cent. in 1938) and of these 109 or 69 per cent. (against 67 per cent. in 1938) were
confined in hospital, while 95 cases or 27 per cent. (against 44 per cent.) of the multiparae
were also confined in hospital.
The following table gives the chief abnormalities found during the year:—
Table No. 18.
| (a) Abnormalities of the foetus— | |
| (i) twins | 7 |
| (ii) abortions | 4 |
| (iii) stillbirths | 6 |
| (iv) other conditions | 4 |