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
Ilford 1911
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Ilford]
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59
is due to those who freely give their services, and carry out
their work as it is carried out at the Hospital. The post of
Matron to a Hospital where there is no resident Medical
Officer is a very trying one, and makes many and various
demands on the capacity of anyone occupying such a position,
much more so, probably, than is generally recognised.
SCARLET FEVER.
The following is the average stay in days of patients admitted to the Hospital suffering from this disease, for the last few years:—
| 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 | 1910 | 1911 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 58 | 54 | 48 | 42 | 36 | 42 | 44 | 52 | 51 |
It will be seen from this that the average stay during
1911 was slightly less than the previous year.
The percentage of Scarlet Fever cases admitted was
73.8 for 1911, compared with 75.2 in 1910 and 69.7 in 1909.
There were three deaths in Hospital from this disease.
Two were from Endocarditis, supervening on the primary
attacks, and the other was a young baby whose powers of
resistance were defective. There were two instances where
another case was notified within three weeks of the first case
returning home from the Hospital. One was discharged on
the 31st March, 1911, and a second case was notified on the
5th April, 1911. The other returned home on the nth
September, 1911, and two others were notified from the
same house on the 25th September. Even supposing these
were undoubted "return" cases, due to infection from the
discharged patient, the percentage is a very small one. But
it must not be forgotten that, where there are numerous
other possibilities of infection, one must not be too prone to
jump at erroneous conclusions.