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
Kensington 1927
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Kensington]
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The number of home visits paid in 1927 by the Council's Women Health Officers is shown in the following table:—
| Women Health Officers. | total. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7 | ||
| Tuberculosis. | ||||||||
| First Visits | 18 | 17 | 22 | 20 | 29 | 39 | 21 | 166 |
| Re-Visits | 219 | 333 | 242 | 231 | 68 | 198 | 303 | 1,574 |
| First Visits | 4 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 15 | 66 |
| Re-Visits | 64 | 120 | 164 | 130 | 30 | 1 | 35 | 544 |
Housing conditions form an important element in regard to tuberculosis, and home visits are
valuable in this connection. The sleeping arrangements are frequently unsatisfactory and the
Women Health Officers always enquire into them. Wherever possible, desirable alterations are
pointed out and urged upon the family.
The following table giving the number of rooms occupied by the families of definite cases of tuberculosis diagnosed in 1927 by the Tuberculosis Officer, and the number of occupants, ascertained by the Women Health Officers on their visits to the homes, is inserted to show the difficulties experienced in securing home isolation in many cases:—
| No. of Occupants | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||
| Rooms 1 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | =21 cases |
| „ 2 | — | 4 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | =43 „ |
| „ 3 | — | 2 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | =28 „ |
| „ 4 | — | — | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | — | = 9 „ |
| „ 5 | — | — | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | = 7 „ |
| ,, 6 | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | 1 | — | — | = 3 „ |
| 111 cases | |||||||||||
This total falls 21 short of the total number of cases owing to patients living in boarding
houses, private hotels or large private residences not being included.
The Following-up of Patients in Cases of Doubtful Diagnosis.
Patients often do not realise the importance of allowing the Tuberculosis Officer to complete
his diagnosis.
When a "suspect" has failed to keep an appointment, he is visited at home by a Woman Health
Officer, who gives him a definite appointment with the Tuberculosis Officer at the Dispensary so
that he will not be kept waiting. If he fails to keep this appointment, second and third visits are
paid for the same purpose, when, if of no avail, the case is dropped for the time being.
During the year there were 109 "suspect" cases. Of these, 4 were finally discovered to be
suffering from respiratory and 3 from non-respiratory tuberculosis. The number who ceased attendance
or who were lost sight of before the completion of diagnosis was 10, and there were 13 still
on the books at the end of the year. The remaining 79 were finally discharged as non-tubercular.