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 1972
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hillingdon]
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The following table gives a summary of the applications for re-housing by the Council and for transfer of accommodation submitted over the last five years for assessment of the medical factors which are being put forward by the applicants to further a claim for priority consideration.
| Year | New Applications | Transfers | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special recommendation or points | No recommendation | Total | Support | No support | Total | ||
| 1968 | 115 | 242 | 357 | 86 | 90 | 176 | 533 |
| 1969 | 150 | 226 | 376 | 101 | 160 | 261 | 637 |
| 1970 | 162 | 191 | 353 | 85 | 102 | 187 | 540 |
| 1971 | 178 | 237 | 415 | 57 | 104 | 161 | 576 |
| 1972 | 240 | 365 | 605 | 31 | 65 | 96 | 701 |
It will be seen that 701 housing cases were referred to the department during 1972 and in
addition 28 other cases were considered under the Council's purchase of accommodation scheme
making a total of 729 cases in all compared to 576 cases dealt with the previous year. Particular
attention is drawn to the 605 applications for re-housing referred to the department which represents
an increase of 50% over the figure for 1971 (415) which had itself been the highest total since the
formation of the Borough in 1965. For many of the applications for re-housing further information
has to be obtained from hospitals, health visitors, social workers, public health inspectors, etc.
and this sharp rise in the number of new applications received, results in an increased work load
for many of the department's staff.
Of the 240 applications for re-housing in which it was possible to give support, 204 were
awarded extra housing points while 36 were given "special" recommendations, i.e. the information
available indicated that medical factors present were being seriously aggravated by existing accommodation
and re-housing was recommended despite the fact that the application did not in other
respects satisfy the criteria laid down by the Council in order to qualify for consideration. Of the
365 applications in which no recommendation was made 118 were considered to have medical
factors present worthy of re-consideration at a later date when the application had been registered
for one year and qualified for "pointing".
Mention was made in the annual report of 1971 (page 105) of the Housing Committee's
decision to dispense with the need for a general practitioner's certificate to be submitted in support
of applications where priority on medical grounds was being sought. Applicants themselves were
encouraged to disclose on a form designed for the purpose details of any condition which they felt
was being aggravated by existing housing factors and during the year 225 applicants made use of
this form. Many applicants however continued to seek support from their general practitioners and
during the year g.p.'s certificates were received in support of 324 new applicants compared with
274 the previous year.
Analysis of Medical Factors
The table on the following page gives details of the medical conditions most commonly put
forward when claims for priority consideration for re-housing or for transfer of accommodation are
put forward.
105