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
Tottenham 1959
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Tottenham]
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74
Poliomyelitis Vaccination
The death of a well-known sporting personality from poliomyelitis in April 1959 stimulated
interest in vaccination among young persons. As a consequence open sessions were held on
Saturday mornings and during lunch hours. A total of 1,845 persons received first injections at
these open sessions.
Since the new year the scheme has been extended to include all persons up to the age of 40.
The following table shows the number of persons completing courses of injections during
1959:-
| Number of Persons who during 1959 completed a course of | ||
|---|---|---|
| Two Injections | Three Injections | |
| Children born in the years 1943 to 1959 | 9097 | 1816 |
| Young Persons born in the years 1933 to 1942 | 5421 | 3032 |
| Expectant Mothers | 632 | 672 |
| General Practitioners and Families | - | 95 |
| Ambulance Staff and Families | - | 18 |
| Hospital Staff, Medical Students and their Families | 430 | 182 |
| Total | 15,580 | 22,160 |
PREVENTION OF ILLNESS, CARE AND AFTER CARE
Recuperative Holidays
The Area health staff continued to be responsible for dealing with applications for
recuperative holidays and during 1959 197 applications were received compared with 177the
previous year. Of these, 176 were approved.
DOMESTIC HELP SERVICE
The total number of cases provided with home help during the year was 1,755, the bulk of
the cases comprising the chronic sick, including aged and infirm, who need more or less
permanent help. The demands on the organisation can be readily appreciated when it is realised
that over 1,000 patients require help week by week.
The following table shows details of the cases served during the year: -
| Cases provided with help | No. of new cases provided with help | No. of old cases for which help was continued from 1958 | Total No. of cases provided with help during year | Total No. of cases still being provided with help at end of year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maternity (including expectant mothers) | 107 | 6 | 113 | 7 |
| Tuberculosis | 11 | 30 | 41 | 26 |
| Chronic Sick (including aged and infirm) | 517 | 945 | 1462 | 972 |
| Others | 126 | 13 | 139 | 19 |
| Total | 761 | 994 | 1755 | 1024 |