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

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Twickenham 1945

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Twickenham]

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LABORATORY WORK
The usual arrangements were continued during the year and
worked satisfactorily.

The following table gives the number of specimens examined during the year:-

Nature of SpecimensNo.Result
Throat and nasal swabs for diphtheria1905 positive
Sputum etc. for tubercle bacilli568 "
Miscellaneous654 "
Total specimens examined311

AMBULANCE FACILITIES
Infectious diseases.
A motor ambulance is provided by the South Middlesex and
Richmond Joint Hospital Board.
Non-infectious and accident cases.
The normal establishment of ambulance vehicles is four.
The service is maintained continuously. It deals with street accidents
removals to hospitals inside and outside the Borough, a few long
distance removals and other emergencies.
During the war the service was staffed by Civil Defence
personnel. At the meeting of the Public Health Committee in January
1945, I reported on the desirability of an amount being included in
the Estimates for the financial year 1945-46, for the employment of a
paid ambulance staff on a peacetime basis. This was approved.
In April 1945, the Ministry of Health circulated all local
authorities on the need for reviewing the peace-time ambulance services
as a result of reductions being made in Civil Defence Ambulance
Services. The Corporation decided to put into operation, as from
4th. June, 1945, the scheme already provisionally approved for the
staffing of the Ambulance Service on a peacetime basis. This provided,
for an establishment of 14|. driver attendants on a shift system at the
appropriate J.I.C. rate of pay. Fourteen men from the Civil Defence
Service were retained for the work. An officer-in-charge of the
service was also appointed and the principle of obtaining a sittingcase
car approved. The Corporation staff-car was housed at the
Hollies Ambulance Station and the services of the driver utilised,
when available, as Station Telephonist.
Two other developments based on the Ambulance Service an
made possible through the assistance obtained from the Civil Defence
nurses, were the Continuous Oxygen Administration and Gas and Air
Analgesia. Since the disbanding of the Civil Defence personnel,
volunteers from the St. John Ambulance Brigade have rendered excellent
service on these additional facilities and are deserving of the
highest praise. During the year, a full-time auxiliary nurse was
appointed to assist, among other things, with the foregoing services
when possible.
At the close of the year three ambulances were in
commission, and a new vehicle was shortly to be delivered.
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