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14 Social Conditions.
available to the Medical Officer of Health when the Scheme fof
National Health Insurance is in operation, will be extremely useful
in directing attention to any excessive sickness and lead to local
investigations as to how far the sickness is capable of removal or
mitigation. In a riverside district, it is important to consider the
amount of sickness due directly or indirectly to local conditions,
such as dampness. The diseases commonly attributed to dampness
are the Rheumatic Group, to which may be added a large proportion
of the Heart Diseases, as the latter are closely related in causation
to the former, so that if we take the total number of cases of acute
and chronic rheumatism and two thirds of the cases of heart disease
it will be seen that the proportion of sickness of this variety is
6.6 per cent. of the total sickness from all diseases, amongst those
receiving Poor Law Medical Relief.
OTHER FORMS OF GRATUITOUS MEDICAL RELIEF.
Situated as this district is, so near to London, it follows that
much advantage is taken of the charitable hospitals, both special
hospitals and general hospitals, and as both in-patients and as
out-patients, some employers of labour in the district contributing to
these institutions and becoming entitled to send their employees for
treatment. There are also several charitable societies or agencies
in the district who make use of these hospitals in this way.
The number of people belonging to this district, dying in these
institutions, is but a small fraction of the number who attend, but
if it is said that 52 have died during last year in institutions, it will
be evident that hospitals are being well utilised for the treatment
of the sick.