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
Hillingdon 1967
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hillingdon]
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59
General Services
HOUSING ALLOCATION—MEDICAL GROUNDS
The housing points scheme remains as described before, and applications for rehousing continue
to be referred to the Medical Officer of Health when medical factors, supported by a general practitioner's
certificate or hospital letter are put forward for consideration.
Applications from council tenants who wish to transfer to other accommodation for medical
reasons are also referred to the Medical Officer of Health.
Although the Medical Officer of Health may recommend "points", (5, 10 or 15) on medical grounds,
in many cases in which a medical condition is considered not to be aggravated by the existing living
conditions no recommendation is made. During 1967, 215 of the 299 cases submitted were considered
not to warrant medical support for rehousing.
In a small number of cases the applicant may not satisfy the residential qualifications, or it may be considered that he is already adequately housed. If, however, a medical condition is being seriously aggravated by the existing living conditions, the Medical Officer of Health may recommend to the Housing (Selection) Sub-Committee that such a case be given special consideration. During 1967, 18 cases of this nature were put forward for special consideration, and all were sympathetically considered by the Committee. This represents a very small percentage of the total number of applications and shows that such a recommendation is made only in cases of exceptional hardship.
| No. of Cases Referred | Recommendations made for "Medical Points" | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | 1966 | 1967 | 1966 | |
| New Applications | 299 | 398 | 84 | 115 |
| Transfers | 176 | 119 | 63 | 40 |
It will be seen from the statistics that, although the number of new applications in which medical
factors were considered has fallen during the year, the number of requests for transfer on medical
grounds has increased by one-third.
It can also be seen that in only about one third of all applications for rehousing and transfer in
which medical factors are put forward for consideration did I feel justified in recommending support
to the Committee. Obviously if all applications with medical support were allowed to qualify for extra
"points" or other preferential treatment, many applicants could put forward some condition, physical
or psychological, which they could claim as worthy of support, and then the whole purpose of a scheme
which allows consideration of health factors would be defeated.
It is only in cases in which a medical condition affecting the applicant or a member of his family
or occupant of the dwelling in which he resides is being aggravated by the existing circumstances do I
feel that support should be recommended.
MASS RADIOGRAPHY
The Mass X-ray Unit paid a visit to the Yiewsley and West Drayton areas during the year, and
although the public sessions were not so well attended (1,567 attendances compared with 2,024 in 1963),
there was an increase of 1,000 in the attendances from industrial concerns.