ids stringlengths 36 36 | texts stringlengths 1 1.43k |
|---|---|
9e4157c5-0e39-4a06-866b-35464053a390 | On pages 76-78 will be found details of the samples submitted to the Public Analyst during 1953. ICE CREAM. (a) CHEMICAL EXAMINATION. Sixteen samples were submitted for chemical examination. A summary of the analysis is given below :— Samples submitted FAT ANALYSIS Under 2.5% 2.5%-5% 5%-8.5% 8.5%-10% Under 10% 16 — 6 2 8 (b) BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION. Fifty-three samples of ice cream were bacteriologically examined. These were submitted to the Ministry of Health Provisional Methylene Blue Reduction Test. The results of these examinations are set out below :— Bacteriological Examination Satisfactory Unsatisfactory 53 51 2 Methylene Blue Test 53 Grades I & 11 49 Grades III & IV 4 Page 69 ICED LOLLIES. |
d673fa87-df90-4fb1-ad05-e2dab6af8f71 | Eight samples of assorted types of iced lollies were submitted to bacteriological examination all of which were found to be satisfactory, Following a report in the public press that iced lollies which were harmful owing to metallic contamination were being sold to the public, eleven samples were submitted to chemical examination. All the samples were found to be free from harmful metallic contamination. In accordance with the provisions of the Barking Corporation Act there were registered in the Borough at the end of the year Ice Cream Manufacturers 2 Retailers within the Borough 174 SUPPLIES OF MILK. The whole of the milk distributed in the Borough is produced and pre-packed in other areas. None but designated tuberculin fested milk is sold in its raw state. The following table shows the position in the Borough :— Number of Registered Retailers 56 Of this number there are 11 operating from premises in other districts. (a) METHYLENE BLUE REDUCTION AND PHOSPHATES TEST. |
2d0e77be-f0f6-4be6-9ec3-81c7f6dad096 | Seventy-nine samples were submitted to this keeping-quality test. One sample taken during the summer months was unsatisfactory. (b) TUBERCULIN TESTED FARM BOTTLED MILK. The eighteen samples submitted to biological examination were found to be free from tubercle. UNSOUND FOOD. On pages 79-80 will be found a summary of the unsound food condemned and destroyed during 1953. ACTION TAKEN IN RESPECT OF SAMPLES REPORTED BY THE PUBLIC ANALYST AS " NOT GENUINE " DURING 1953 1. Sausages Pork and Beef Sausages supplied by a manufacturer with premises outside the Borough were found below a standard of meat content. Page 70 in the case of Pork 65 per cent., and Beef 50 per cent. Notwithstanding the difficulty of establishing a standard the Council decided to prosecute. The Stratford bench considered evidence and arguments at length. |
3e9296c2-ed94-4518-82f3-5efb0c54af32 | The suppliers were convicted and fined £2 on each of four summonses. Costs of £5 5s. 0d. were imposed. The prosecution was resisted strenuously by the trade. Following the prosecution the Council requested the Minister of Food to re-impose standards of meat-content. 2. Eldermint Life Drops Upon examination of the label it was found that contradictory formulae were given. The sample was reported to contain 1.1% Chloroform, contrary to both statements on the label. The manufacturers withdrew the stocks of this preparation from sale and labelled the bottles to conform with requirements. MERCHANDISE MARKS ACT. |
892ce834-6b2d-4f07-8e8d-8fe35210589e | All the provisions of the various marking orders are now fully operative and the following foodstuffs are required to be marked with an indication of the country of origin on exposure for sale :— Meat, bacon and ham, fresh apples, raw tomatoes, shell-eggs, dried eggs, currants, sultanas, raisins, oat-products, honey, frozen or chilled salmon or sea trout, butter, dead poultry. There has been some difficulty in securing the co-operation of local traders, particularly with relation to meat, apples and tomatoes. Verbal notices have been given and written circular letters sent to all affected traders. HOUSING. The acute shortage of accommodation continues as one of the major problems affecting adversely the health of the families concerned. There is close co-operation between the department and the Re-housing Officer who is also the Chief Sanitary Inspector. During the year the Council were at long last able to make a start Page 71 on the Thames View Estate development. |
1abc2561-0fd2-4ed1-9d65-949c3b5b351e | The building contractor entered upon the site in September-October. It is hoped that the estate will provide for 2,000 families and that there will be a delivery of 300 dwellings annually as a minimum in the early years of the development. The worst of the slums in Barking were dealt with between the two wars, but there remained at the end of the year a residue of families in the Abbey Road Clearance Scheme and in the Bennington Avenue and London Road area. Active steps are continuing to decant these families and rehouse them in modern dwellings. As an indication of the future the Council has approved a five-year programme of building and fixed certain ratios for the allocation of accommodation, viz :— From Waiting Applicants 45% From sub-standard accommodation and Requisitioned Properties 35% From Clearance Areas 20% Thus it will be seen that the Council has made the important policy decision which will enable its officers to proceed with further slum clearance and removal of unfit properties on a planned basis. |
eb4fbac7-21f0-4bf6-b45e-260ce517e854 | This should avoid the well known forms of nuisance which arise from cleared sites awaiting further development, or the dilapidations which ensue when areas are confirmed for clearance and there is long delay before rehousing is carried out. RENT AND MORTGAGE INTEREST RESTRICTIONS 1920-39. Two applications were made by occupiers and two certificates issued. One certificate was issued to an owner on completion of the works required. HOUSING ACT, 1949—IMPROVEMENT GRANTS. During the year one application for grant under Section 20 of the Act was investigated. This was referred to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government for approval. Page 72 SANITATION, HOUSING, SHOPS ACTS, ETC. 1952 1953 Visits ReVisits Total Visits ReVisits Total — — 1,615 — Complaints received — 1,474 Visits 1. |
ffb3a77d-4e4a-4c56-80c8-eb5b8b99e018 | Inspection of Dwelling-houses Visits 4,490 3,566 8,056 — Under Public Health or Housing Acts 3,457 2,957 6,414 315 — 315 — After I.D. and Scabies 395 — 395 — 558 — 558 — Housing Investigations 262 — 262 — Contraventions 2. Premises controlled by Bye Law & Regulations — Contraventions 25 — 25 10 Offensive Trades 13 — 13 — 26 — 26 — Tents, Vans and Sheds 6 — 6 — 88 — 88 12 Milkshops 54 — 54 — 67 — 67 6 Hairdressers' premises 14 — 14 4 283 — 283 20 Atmospheric Pollution Investigations 198 — 198 19 4 — 4 — Massage Establishments 3 — 3 — 775 — 775 193 3. |
08550bcd-d616-42af-b1f1-7af5e2a730c3 | Food and Drugs Act and Shops Acts General Inspections Food & Drugs Act, 1938 752 — 752 198 408 — 408 79 „ „ Shops Acts 1934 & 1950 234 — 234 54 182 — 182 — Food Sampling 175 — 175 — 134 — 134 — Milk Sampling 97 — 97 — 82 — 82 — Ice-cream sampling 86 — 86 — 16 — 16 15 Bakehouses 23 — 23 40 195 — 195 71 Butchers' premises 183 — 183 71 64 — 64 49 Fishmongers 49 — 49 28 179 — 179 65 Ice-cream Vendors 171 — 171 74 85 — 85 44 Licensed premises 22 — 22 16 320 — 320 186 Restaurants, Dining Rooms and Canteens 364 — 364 71 13 — 13 — 4. |
8b29ccfd-fdcf-4eda-b954-17b0bf7605a8 | Miscellaneous Aged and Infirm persons 23 — 23 — 236 — 236 — Drainage Inspections 131 — 131 118 21 — 21 1 Piggeries 18 — 18 — 32 — 32 — Public Lavatories 37 — 37 — 1,317 — 1,317 — Prevention of Damage by Pests Act, 1949 1,169 — 1,169 — 90 — 90 12 Schools 46 — 46 — 75 — 75 6 Stables 51 — 51 — 240 — 240 14 Vacant Lands and Refuse Tips 95 — 95 4 71 — 71 7 Watercourses 4 — 4 — 40 — 40 — Water sampling 58 — 58 — 16 — 16 — Pet Animals Act, 1951 16 — 16 — 306 — 306 — Other Miscellaneous 756 — 756 — Total 14,403 Total 11, |
d24ad9a4-2e0a-4d26-b667-7b885fd7ccc1 | 919 REMEDIAL ACTION. 1952 1953 Drainage Works 25 Drains relaid or repaired 26 145 Choked drains cleared 118 2 Inspection chambers constructed - 12 New covers fitted 5 46 Tests made 21 Sanitary Conveniences 2 Additional water closets fitted - 3 Separate w.c. accommodation for sex provided - 20 New w.c. pans fitted 17 89 Flushing apparatus repaired or renewed 83 - Intervening vent space provided - - Artificial lighting provided - 14 Other works 26 Other Sanitary fittings 17 New sinks fitted. |
4240edfd-d9c7-4090-8a5f-9b03afe75ee4 | 12 - Wash basins provided - 51 Sink and bath waste pipes fitted 28 Other Works 182 Proofs repaired or renewed 247 246 Gutters or rain-water pipes repaired or renewed 206 50 Yards paved and drained 61 72 Chimney pots replaced and stacks repaired 46 149 Dampness remedied 92 25 Houses disinfested 17 33 External walls repointed 61 801 Window frames repaired or renewed 254 7 Stairtreads repaired 5 109 Doors and doorframes renewed or repaired 73 161 Floors renewed or repaired 147 52 Stoves renewed or repaired 69 2 Washing coppers repaired 3 244 Celling and wall plaster repaired 208 938 Dustbins supplied 950 11 Accumulations of rubbish cleared 4 363 Miscellaneous 441 Page 73 NOTICES SERVED AND COMPLIANCES THEREWITH. |
bc8e1d80-bc09-46c3-bb32-a5f299920222 | 1952 1953 Prelimin ary Statutory Compliance Notices Prelimin ary Statutory Compliance Prelimin ary Statutory Prelimin ary Statutory 23,64 742 2,283 631 Dwelling houses 1,709 303 1,522 316 7 - 7 - Offensive Trades - - - - - - - - Tents, vans and sheds - - - - 8 - 8 - Milkshops 4 - 4 - 4 - 4 - Hairdressers' premises 7 - 2 - 20 - 20 - Atmospheric Pollution 19 - 19 - 7 - 7 - Bakehouses 13 - 13 - 46 - 46 - Butchers' premises 47 - 47 - 148 - 148 - Drainage inspection 204 - 204 - 28 - 28 - Fishmongers 13 - 13 - 115 - 115 - Food and Drugs Act, |
1dfd9dfc-ea64-4e5d-acf5-a484deb0ce6c | 1938 111 - 111 - 38 - 38 - Ice-cream vendors 39 - 39 - 26 - 26 - Licensed premises 8 - 8 - 1 - 1 - Piggeries - - - - - - - - Public lavatories - - - - 58 - 58 - Shops Acts, 1934 & 1950 39 - 39 - 4 - 4 - Stables 2 - 2 - 14 - 14 - Vacant lands and refuse tips 4 - 4 - Outstanding, 77 (Completed during 1953) Outstanding, 64. FACTORIES ACT, 1937. The following statistics show the results of the activities of the Sanitary Inspectors in the administrations of this Act. Page 74 1.—Inspections for purposes of provisions as to health. |
b6f05fbb-42d9-474b-b7f4-d3247829e546 | Premises Number on Register Number of Inspections Written notices Occupiers prosecuted (i) Factories in which Sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 are to be enforced by Local Authorities 25 24 - Nil (ii) Factories not inincluded in (i) in which Section 7 is enforced by the Local Authority 216 227 10 Nil (iii) Other Premises in which Section 7 is enforced by the Local Authority (excluding outworkers' premises) 6 10 - Nil Total 247 261 10 Nil 2.—Cases in which Defects were found. Particulars Number of cases in which defects were found Number of cases in which prosecutions were instituted Found Remedied Referred To H.M. Inspector By H.M. Inspector Want of cleanliness (S. |
ba1ad664-d61f-4e8c-a4ad-a70bf27f8978 | 1) - - - - - Overcrowding (S.2) - - - - - Unreasonable temperature (S.3) - - - - - Inadequate ventilation (S.4) - 1 - - - Ineffective drainage of floors (S-6) - - - - - Sanitary Conveniences (S.7) (a) Insufficient 1 1 - 1 - (b) Unsuitable or defective 9 14 - 1 - (c) Not separate for sexes 3 - - 2 - Other offences against the Act (not including offences relating to Outwork) - - - - - Total 13 16 - 4 - Page 75 OUTWORK. Section 110 : Number of outworkers in August List required by Section 110 (1) (c) 204 Nature of work carried out by outworkers— Making of wearing apparel 160 Stuffed Toys 1 Umbrellas, etc. |
1aceffa6-e83d-4304-8fa1-6bfc5c05ae93 | 2 The making of boxes or other receptacles or parts thereof made wholly or partially of paper 11 Brush making 1 Cosaques, Christmas Crackers, Christmas Stockings, etc. 21 Artificial flowers 3 Curtains and Furniture Hangings 2 Tents 1 Carding, etc., of Buttons, etc. 2 Number of Cases of default in sending in lists to the Council Nil Prosecutions for default in sending in lists to the Council Nil Section 111: Number of visits to outworkers 326 Number of instances of work in unwholesome premises Nil Number of notices served Nil Number of prosecutions in respect of outworkers' premises Nil SAMPLES SUBMITTED TO THE PUBLIC ANALYST JANUARY 1st-DECEMBER 31st, 1953. Number Analysed Apple Rings 1 Batter Flour 1 Blanc Mange Powder 1 Blood Tonic 1 Brawn 1 Bread 1 Butter 1 Butter Beans 1 Cake Mixture 1 Cake Flour, |
8bca6f5e-b920-4314-9ea9-7a3333802552 | with Egg 1 Page 76 Carraway Seeds 1 Chicken and Ham Paste 1 Clear Mints 2 Cocoanut, Dessicated 2 Cooking Fat 4 Coffee Creams 1 Cough Linctus 1 Composition Essence 1 Cream of Tartar 1 Curry Powder 2 Custard Powder 1 Dandelion Coffee 1 Dates 1 Dessert, Vanilla Flavoured 1 Eldermint Life Drops 1 Eyebright Composition 1 Flavourings 3 Flour 1 Fruit Drops 3 Fruit Lollipops 1 Gees Linctus 1 Gin 3 Glycerine, Honey and Lemon Balsam 1 Grape Fruit Squash 1 Honey 2 Ice Cream 16 Indian Brandee 1 Jam 8 Kidney Cleansers 1 Krusty Krums 1 Lard 3 Lemon Juice 1 Lemon Squash 3 Lollies, |
9b807111-07f2-41b0-ac7e-58603817019e | Ice 11 Luncheon Sausage 3 Macaroni 1 Margarine 7 Marmalade 2 Marzipan 1 Meat Pie 1 Mentholated Balsam 1 Milk Chocolate 1 Page 77 Mint in Vinegar 1 Nerve Tonic 1 Olive Oil 2 Orange Squash 1 Orange Wine, Non-alcoholic 1 Pastilles 1 Pepper 5 Popcorn 1 Raspberry Leaf Compound Tablets 1 Raspberries in Syrup 1 Rheumatic Tablets 1 Rice 7 Rosehip Syrup 1 Saccharin Tablets 1 Sage, Dried 1 Sausages, Beef 25 Sausages, Pork 20 Savoury Patty 1 Sherbo Fizz 1 Soda Bicarbonate 1 Soups 5 Steak Pie 1 Strawberries in Syrup 1 S.R. |
48593fac-0393-4f97-ad66-2bf519aaabf0 | Flour 3 Tapioca Flakes 1 Wafer, Cream Filled Chocolate 1 Whisky 3 203 UNSOUND FOOD CONDEMNED AND DESTROYED—1953. Baby Food 24 tins Bacon 84 lbs. Barley 50 lbs. Beans, Tinned 243 tins Biscuits 48 lbs. Black Puddings 1½ lbs. Butter 2½ Cake 103½ lbs. Page 78 Cake Mixture 79 pkts. Cheese 209 lbs. Coffee Beans 28 lbs. Coffee 1 bottle Confectionery 3 tons 3cwt 261bs. Com Flakes 1 packet Cream 43 tins Dates 8½ lbs. Dried Fruit 30 lbs. Drinking Chocolate 1 tin Figs 19 pkts. Fish 29½ stone Fish Cakes 61 Fish, Tinned 71 tins Flour 34 lbs. |
359a4385-5995-49f5-bf9c-739fda76a111 | Fruit, Tinned 1,634 tins Ham 582½ lbs. Jam and Marmalade 54 lbs. Liver Sausage 1¾ lbs. Margarine 95 lbs. Meat 19,779 lbs. Meat, Tinned 809 tins Milk, Condensed 44 tins Milk, Evaporated 209 tins Mincemeat 11 lbs. Mixed Minerals 10 doz. bottles Nescafe 1 tin Onions 72 cwt. Paste, Me and Fish 101 jars Peas, Tinned 279 tins Peas, Dried 28 lbs. Peas, Split 7 lbs. Pearl Barley 5 lbs. Pickles 33 lbs. Pork Pies 9 Potatoes 3 cwts. Prunes 53 lbs. Rabbit 186 lbs. Rice 1 lb. |
66b3c520-8803-439d-a05b-3e9c5b8c8f0a | Salad Cream 1 jar Sausages, Beef 309½ lbs. Sausages, Pork 274½ lbs. Page 79 Semolina 1 lb. Shredded Wheat 1 pkt. Soup, Tinned 98 tins Steak Pies 10 only Sugar 11 lbs. Tomatoes, Tinned 72 tins Veal Brawn 16 lbs. Vegetables, Tinned 3 tins Page 80 SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE We have seen that Public Health in Barking is now a centenarian and that the National Health Service is a thriving though yet immature toddler of five. The School Health Service will soon celebrate its half century and has, if I may suggest so, reached a respectable but rather complacent middle-age. The School Health Service in this country was conceived some fifty years ago when a committee was appointed to investigate the rather alarming fact that of the young men being medically examined for the South African war nearly one-third had to be rejected on medical grounds. |
d5caec16-322e-442e-9e6c-3109aca7e057 | This committee reported that many of the defects from which these young men were suffering had existed during their school life, and that they could have been detected and treated at a much earlier stage had facilities been available. As a result of this report (published in 1904) a system of compulsory school medical examinations was set up. In order to treat the numerous defects which were found on examination facilities for treatment had to be made available, and a system of school meals was instituted for those necessitous children whose condition was one of general debility due to under- nourishment. Does the service, as we know it today, differ in any important aspect from that instituted fifty years ago? True, in addition to routine medical inspections, we have routine dental inspections, School Nurses carry out canliness inspections and we even have people called Audiometricians who go round the schools testing children's hearing. |
0e288162-1adc-41a9-8263-9aec20c7053c | We still have our minor ailment clinics although these are now supported by various specialist services, and to these must be added such facilities as speech therapy, squint training, dental hygiene and child guidance clinics. Arrangements for convalescent holidays are made where necessary, and special schools are available for the more seriously or permanently handicapped child. You will agree that, although increased in scope, there seems little new in Principle in our present-day scheme. I think too that you will be as surprised as I was to discover that, despite the activities of the School Medical Service throughout the country during the best part of a half century, about 18% of young men examined for National Service are still turned down on medical grounds. Page 81 School Medical Inspections Ministry Regulations lay down that three routine medical inspections shall be carried out during a child's school life, but in common with many other progressive authorities it has been your custom to provide more frequent examinations. |
22b13667-b124-4cc0-b9ee-c90a9b65fe53 | At present Medical Officers go into each school once in every eighteen months to two years. I have the feeling, however, that the number of children they examine each session in order to fulfill this programme is on the high side and I hope to make some adjustments during 1954. The examination should be the occasion for a conference between child, parent, doctor, health visitor and teacher, and the opportunity taken of imparting Health Education. PERIODIC MEDICAL INSPECTIONS Number of Inspections in the prescribed Groups — Entrants 1,059 Second Age Group 1,189 Third Age Group 1,453 Total 3,701 Number of other Periodic Inspections 3,376 Total 7,077 Cleaminess Inspections The small number of children found to be harbouring nits or lice at cleanliness inspections raises the question as to whether these are a waste of a trained health visitor's time, and indeed whether there is a continuing need to carry out these inspections at all. |
4b5e31bf-f96d-41fa-a7d8-bcc01e844ba6 | On the other hand it can be argued that a trained health visitor may well observe some other defect which would not have been noted by an assistant, and that the inspections still serve a useful purpose since parents are more careful in the care of their children's hair when they know regular examinations take place. (i) Total number of examinations in the schools 20,559 (ii) Number of pupils found to be infested 136 Page 82 Minor Ailment Clinics Attendances at minor ailment clinics have fallen off somewhat since the introduction of the National Health Service Act. Now that the services of the family doctors are available to school children free of charge it is not surprising that these are used to a far greater extent. Minor ailment clinics still serve a purpose in that nurses are available to carry out routine treatments, and there is the added advantage that there is less time to wait and the child loses less schooling. The medical officers still feel keenly the loss of their power to issue prescriptions for medicaments. |
2a47cb8f-3ea1-44ff-8ec9-e72e1f9eba72 | Whilst it could be argued that their function is to prevent and not to treat, one has to face the fact that parents are inclined to think that a doctor who is not allowed to issue a prescription for some trifling malady is necessarily inferior to the family and hospital doctors, and they are the less likely to accept his advice on preventive measures. Cases treated for minor ailments (e.g. minor injuries, bruises, sores, chilblains, etc.) 3,860 Total attendances 25,593 Denial Services Barking has been very much more fortunate than many districts in retaining a staff of Dental Officers during a time of great disparity between earnings in the National Health Service and the School Health Service. Although we lost the services of Mr. Gilchrist during the year we we fortunate in that Mr. R. A. Robinson, L.D.S., joined us and commenced duties on the 27th July, 1953. You will remember that your last Senior Dental Officer resigned in December, 1951. |
50e03e07-bd4a-4580-ba39-3e0f71ce283a | Unfortunately we have not been able to replace him since it not the County Council's policy to make such appointments in Areas. I personally feel that there is as much need for a Senior Dental Officer as for a Superintendent Health Visitor or a Domestic Help Organiser, and I hope that the matter will be reconsidered. The Barking Committee for Education has taken a close interest in orthodontic treatment this year, particularly with regard to measures designed to ensure that children do not abandon the somewhat lengthy treatment before its completion. Page 83 Orthodontic treatment is not only tedious and time consuming but it is expensive, and in most cases the need for it could have been avoided. Unfortunately there are still far too many parents who will not take the Dentist's advice to have their children's first teeth filled.. These teeth are lost early, neighbouring teeth close in to fill the gap, and there is then not enough room for the second teeth which come through crooked. |
e2c73e63-846c-4d4d-aa5c-e16ed63942e6 | The reconverted East Street Clinic opened during the year thus giving the Oral Hygienist more adequate accommodation. There is, I am convinced, scope for the further extension of her work when the Dental Officers come to realise her full value. In addition to chairside duties she has developed the preventive and educative side of her work by giving talks to groups of expectant mothers attending the ante-natal classes. |
02bc486e-96fe-4d8a-bf7e-04044587e5a7 | I am also encouraging head teachers to give her every facility DENTAL INSPECTION AND TREATMENT (1) Number of pupils inspected :— (a) In school 6,322 (b) In clinics 2,499 Total 8,821 (2) Number found to require treatment 6,428 (3) Attendances for treatment 20,180 (4) Fillings : Permanent Teeth 7,214 Temporary Teeth 2,996 Total 10,210 (5) Extractions : Permanent Teeth 838 Temporary Teeth 4,954 Total 5,792 (6) Treatments undertaken by Oral Hygienist 2,936 Page 84 to enter their schools to talk to groups of children on the care of their teeth. Today's schoolchildren are tomorrow's parents, and if convinced of its importance they will take good care not only of their own teeth but their children's also. |
a79b0442-d66e-4ede-a977-25819678cac8 | Dental Workshop The amount of work being undertaken has increased steadily and the establishment was increased by a further technician during the year, which also enabled us to take on a second Apprentice. This workshop, which was built by the Council for the needs of Barking, now undertakes the manufacture of dentures, orthodontic appliances etc. for a large part of the County. The following figures relate to the output of the workshop :— No. of Dentures 362 Repairs to Dentures 53 No. of Orthodontic Appliances 650 Repairs to Orthodontic Appliances 48 No. of Inlays, etc. 39 Speech Therapy Towards the end of the year you authorised the appointment of a part-time Speech Therapist for two sessions per week. This has enabled us to reduce the lengthening waiting list, and has also made it possible for Mrs. A. Ling full-time Speech Therapist, to devote an extra session to the children at Faircross Special School. |
f0a0df16-329c-4a12-b42a-fe990e86e5ed | Figures or this service are as follows :— No. of cases treated 100 Total attendances 2,104 specialist services Eye Clinics Dr. r. F. Jamieson, m.b. Ch.b., d.o.m.s., continues to attend Central, Porters Avenue and Woodward Clinics. Page 85 Cases dealt with were as follows :— External and other diseases excluding errors of refraction and squint 585 Errors of refraction (including squint) 1,111 Total 1,696 Number of pupils for whom spectacles were prescribed 830 The Orthoptic Clinic, now the responsibility of the Hospital Management Committee, is held in somewhat unsatisfactory accommodation at Central Clinic. The Orthoptist, Miss Lewis, who works under the general direction of Dr. Jamieson, treated 150 school children during the year. Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic It is with regret that I report that Mr. |
11298dbc-fe1b-4d1f-9e01-6e87a6853358 | F. Courtenay-Mason, B.A., M.B., L.R.C.P., F.R.C.S., Consultant Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist since 1940, died during the year. Figures for treatment are :— Operative treatment (cases):— (a) For diseases of the ear 2 (b) For adenoids and chronic tonsillitis 205 (c) For other nose and throat conditions. 11 Other forms of treatment (cases) 1,367 The Barking Committee for Education has been much concerned at the long waiting list for tonsil and adenoid operations and made representations to the Regional Hospital Board during the year. In reply you were informed that it was hoped that certain beds would be made available at the Ilford Isolation Hospital for tonsil cases. |
de14ce02-3f05-43f4-a886-140ef170c914 | In view of the known association between bulbar poliomyelitis and recent tonsillectomy you viewed this suggestion with some concern, and Page 86 expressed the view that Barking children should not be admitted to the Ilford Isolation Hospital for this operation. The question of tonsillectomy is a most difficult one. It is my personal view that many children have their tonsils removed unnecessarily, and this opinion is confirmed by the fact that when children placed on the waiting list come up for review it is often found that their names can be removed since the operation is no longer required. In so far as a long waiting list stops a child having an unnecessary operation, I am in favour of it and would not like to see more beds made available. Obviously where a case is urgent, priority is needed and is in fact given, although some delay does occur especially with older children admitted to "adult" beds. The question of poliomyelitis and tonsillectomy is even more difficult. |
c7440259-4b24-4440-93c0-e06132f6e06f | In theory, the arrangement whereby children undergoing tonsillectomy are admitted to a block of an infectious diseases hospital is undesirable. It can be argued, however, that in a properly designed and run hospital the risks of cross infection are negligible, whilst in a general hospital where special precautions are not taken cross infection is fr quent. It is of interest to note that a Barking child who had his tonsils moved in a general hospital during 1953 developed poliomyelitis sc e fourteen days later, resulting in a dangerous bulbar paralysis from which, fortunately, he recovered. Orthopaedic Clinic Mr. |
2aa93374-9e65-44ee-82a4-dba908b7f981 | L. Gillis, M.B.E., F.R.C.S., continues as the Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and attends the Manor Clinic once per fortnight: Cases treated were:— (a) In hospital 4 (b) In clinics or out-patient departments 581 The Education Committee has been pressing for the transfer of this clinic from the Manor School in view of the fact that it occupies classroom accommodation badly needed for educational purposes. The Hospital Management Committee has been unable to promise early action owing to lack of money for the proposed adaption of an empty ward at Barking Hospital. Page 87 Your Remedial Gymnast, Mr. Ogle, continues to attend the Faircross Special School to treat the physically handicapped children, and now spends an additional four sessions per week on this work. I hope during the coming year to give him opportunity to take a greater interest in the normal P.T. instruction in ordinary schools in co-operation with the Advisors on Physical Education. Skin Clinic Dr. |
0d4043ae-6cba-413c-80f5-f870375d1a0a | P. M. Deville, M.R.C.P., M.R.C.S., Consultant Dermatologist, attends the Skin Clinic, Paget Ward, Barking Hospital, weekly. Number of cases treated or under treatment during the year were:— Ringworm:— (i) Scalp 2 (ii) Body 7 Scabies 12 Impetigo 75 Other skin diseases 1,559 In addition Dr. Adamson conducts a special clinic for the treatment of plantar warts. Figures for 1953 are as follows :— New cases treated 141 Total attendances 1 644 Child Guidance The number of cases referred to Child Guidance Clinics this year has risen to eleven as compared with five last year. I must reassure you that these figures do not represent any increase in the numbers of Barking children requiring this form of treatment and should warn you to expect a further increase next year. |
0a9b3ee5-68f0-4860-b4f6-9c63ab9815cd | The reason lies in the fact that I have encouraged Medical Officers to refer such children at the earliest stage possible so as to give the Child Guidance team the best possible chance of righting the position. Page 88 In order to improve liaison and to further our own knowledge of psychological disorders, I arranged with Dr. Davidson, Consultant Psychiatrist, Ilford Child Guidance Clinic, for the Medical Officers and Health Visitors interested in a particular child to attend the relevant case conference. We have found these meetings of immense value in furthering our understanding of the problems involved, and I think too that the intimate knowledge of the whole family possessed by the Health Visitor has often been of great value to the members of the Child Guidance team. I should like to place on record my appreciation of the wholehearted co-operation and help we have received from Dr. Davidson and the other members of the clinic staff. INFECTIOUS DISEASES. |
90bc890d-1178-465d-9962-9310b9ede4b7 | Exclusion Our attitude towards the exclusion from school of children who have been in contact with infectious disease is gradually becoming less stringent. We are coming to realise that those infectious diseases which can be prevented (e.g. diphtheria and smallpox) are controlled mainly by our methods is of immunisation and vaccination, quarantine measures playing very little part in the prevention of spread. Disease such as measles, chicken pox and mumps are, in our present state of knowledge, not preventable and nearly every child catches them at one time or another. These diseases can be very serious in infancy and it is wise not to expose babies to infection, but they cause little trouble in childhood. They tend to give rise to complications if caught in later life—for example Mumps can cause sterility and we now now that such virus diseases as German measles in an expectant mother can cause the birth of a baby congenitally blind or deaf. |
a799af2c-88e6-4cd0-ab88-91c74db7487b | Quarantine does not prevent—it merely postpones an attack until an age when the loss of schooling is more serious, or even until adolescence or early adult life when complications may occur. Contacts of scarlet fever, chicken pox, etc. are no longer excluded and there would seem lit; purpose in continuing our present practice of excluding contacts of measles and whooping cough. Dysentery Of the fifty-nine cases of dysentery in the Borough during the year forty-two related to an outbreak affecting the Monteagle Infants and Junior Girls' schools. Page 89 In November the Head Teacher of the Monteagle Infants' School informed me that several children were away with "gastro-enteritis" and that three had been admitted to hospital. It was immediately apparent that school dinners were not to blame since many of the children affected went home to lunch. |
77b2fde9-d37f-4dfa-a0eb-5833703d41e7 | Investigations revealed that one of the pupils had had similar symptoms about three weeks previously, but that these had quickly cleared and he was not taken to his doctor Bacteriological investigations on this boy and on one of the cases admitted to hospital revealed the germ of Sonne dysentery and general practitioners were immediately notified. The remaining children in the two classes affected were all swabbed, and seven further cases were found. These were excluded from school until after treatment and two negative laboratory reports, and no further cases occurred in the Infants' Department. Bacteriological investigations of the family contacts of known cases revealed that both parents and an elder sister of one of the infant school children were also affected. The elder sister, who attended the Junior Girls' School, was excluded but unfortunately had spread the infection by this time and an outbreak developed in the Junior School involving a total of twenty-one children. |
1066ff6d-985c-44cf-a97b-405565ccb3c7 | The remaining members of the affected classes were investigated and positives excluded from school, and the outbreak appeared to be under control before the end of the term. Four cases were also discovered amongst brothers and sisters attending other schools, five cases in brother or sisters of pre-school age and two further cases amongst parents. The necessary advice concerning hand hygiene was given and an emergency supply of paper towels was made available. I am most grateful to the Head Teachers concerned for their willing co-operation, despite the extra burden imposed upon them by the outbreak. Reference is made later to your decision to ask Managing and Governing bodies to consider the hand washing facilities in their schools and to submit recommendations. Tuberculosis The follow-up of those who were helping in the rial of B.C.G vaccine was continued during the year, facilities been made available to the M.R.C. team at the Woodward Clinic. |
177da31e-b8b8-456e-955a-85363cadec6f | Although the final results of this investigation will not be known for some years, the Ministry of Health decided to approve an extension of present arrangements so that this protection might be offered to all children between the ages of 13 and 14. The vaccinations are to be carried out by the Page 90 Local Health Authority under their arrangements for the prevention of tuberculosis, rather than as a part of the School Health Service. It is anticipated that the County Health Committee will give approval to the scheme and that B.C.G. vaccinations may be commenced in Barking next year. During the year a 14-year-old girl attending one of the secondary modern schools developed tuberculous broncho-pneumonia and was admitted to hospital. She herself was in contact with an uncle who is presumed to be the source of her infection. Shortly afterwards a second girl, who sat next to her in class, was admitted to hospital with a pleural effusion. |
3a9cfcd1-4c50-4b95-95d2-752142b0d944 | Arrangements were therefore made for the remaining girls in the class and members of the teaching staff to have X-ray examinations. As a result of these a third girl was brought under close surveillance at the Chest Clinic and later in the year she also was notified as case of tuberculosis and admitted to hospital. It was decided to carry out preliminary skin tests on the remaining girls in the school and only to X-ray those who showed a positive test. The "flour paper " jelly test was chosen but the results indicated that, at any rate in our hands, this particular test was not reliable and advantage was taken of the visit of a mass X-ray unit later in the year to X-ray all the remaining girls. One case of primary tuberculosis in a 13-year-old girl was discovered, but this girl was not in contact with the other cases and the source of infection was believed to be outside school. |
ead514fc-8889-4c6c-8707-4bb3ff3075be | Athlete's Foot and Plantar Warts You have taken a great interest in the problem of athlete's foot and plantar arts, and you decided not to allow plimsolls to be transferred from one child to another since I was unable to assure you that there was any effective method of sterilising these shoes without damaging them. I did seek your authority to carry out certain trials in an endeavour to find a harmless but effective method, although I warned you that results may take some time to obtain. Dr. M. Adamson has for some time been very interested in these foot infections and has been carrying out foot inspections in the schools. When she has had the opportunity of completing her survey we should have information relating to the incidence of these conditions in Barking school children, which will serve as a basis for our further investigations. Page 91 Dr. Adamson also conducts a special clinic for the treatment of plantar warts discovered on routine examination or referred from other school medical officers. |
d5bb7332-1893-42d7-90e6-0368a652f5b7 | This is held in the Skin Clinic, Paget Ward, Barking Hospital. HYGIENE. Toilets In the older schools toilet accommodation is invariably sited at the periphery of the playground, presumably because our predecessors felt it would be unhygienic to have them elsewhere. Even in the more modern schools on the Becontree Estate, where the toilets are attached to the school buildings, access is usually only to be obtained from the playground since most Heads lock the internal communicating door. Although individual toilet compartments are usually roofed, the toilet block as a whole is open to the air in both older and newer schools.. It is invariably cold and wet in the winter months and the flushing system freezes during some part of the winter. Whilst most Heads are aware of the importance of good hygiene and whilst by and large your caretakers are most conscientious, there is always the danger "out of sight, out of mind." From all points of view seems to me that toilet accommodation should always be provided internally. |
79119136-991c-46d3-bc39-dc70682ead60 | It is a matter of concern that in the majority of the schools no toilet paper is available except by issue from classroom and I fail to see how any teacher or any child can anticipate requirements. If the child takes too much some is wasted, whilst if he takes too little results cannot be but unhygienic. Head Teachers invariably tell me that it is impossible to provide toilet paper in the individual compartments since it is invariably stolen or scattered. In some instances leads arrange this as a matter of routine so I find it hard to believe that there are any insuperable difficulties. Washing Facilities I have already mentioned that the outbreak of c. dysentery at the Monteagle Schools focussed your attention on the need for adequate hand washing facilities. I think it most unlikely that adequate hand hygiene will be practised when a child has to collect soap and towel from she classroom, and when only cold water is available in the handbasins. |
4bb8fcc9-e8ba-44be-854c-adf733acd0bc | In the older schools an added difficulty in training children to wash their hands is that washing facilities are not available in the toilet blocks. This should be easier in the Becontree schools for if Heads ere to lock the Page 92 doors leading to the playground rather than the internal doors, the children would pass the washbasins on their way out. Or rather I should say they might pause at the basins in order to wash their hands. I am happy to say that as a result of your interest many schools ire now installing a supply of hot water to the basins and providing suitable towelling. And, what is more important, the children are being trained to use these facilities. SCHOOL MEALS. We have seen that school meals were first introduced for those very under-nourished children who were unable to take advantage of the instruct: provided for them by the earlier Education Acts. |
63e15ed4-b3a9-4992-8923-69ce9c28c9e1 | Meals are now available to all as part of the educational system however, and I fee it every effort should be made to serve these in as attractive surroundings as possible. It is unfortunate that often school halls have to be used as dining rooms—maybe ore the dust raised by the last P.T. period has settled. Formica type table tops are both pleasant and hygienic, but where the old line-covered tables have to be used tablecloths would add much. A lot can be said both for and against the cafeteria system of serving meals. Whilst this may be administratively easier where large numbers are concerned, I think there is much to be said for the family table system which can be used to develop good table manners. It also help in that the food is not eaten so quickly. I know that you are anxious to provide a kitchen to each school so that cooked food does not have to be carried to various dining centres losing much in the process. |
c014f318-1c59-4825-b767-14eba1869054 | I realise that here again lack of money is a determining factor. During the period of meat rationing there was perhaps some excuse for the fact that meat was invariably cooked the previous day, carved whilst cold and then reheated. I do hope that with ending of rationing Cooks will be encouraged to cook meat on the day of consumption, since it is far more appetising this way. The hygiene of the kitchens is a matter which interests me closely. Members of the kitchen staff receive careful medical examination, including appropriate blood tests, before appointment and the importance of reporting sick in the event of any gastro-enteritis is constantly emphasised. The absence of any trouble from food infection during the year is a matter for congratulation, but depends upon the ceaseless vigilance of the Supervisors and the necessary observance of hygiene by other members of the kitchen staff. Page 93 THE HANDICAPPED CHILD. The Educationally Sub-Normal At the end of the year there were 119 children in the E.S.n. |
d15fd993-8eac-46ee-b673-3dd77b13447b | section of Faircross Special School. Of the total, 41 came from Barking whilst 78 were from adjacent Boroughs. It is understood that the County Borough of East Ham will be opening their own Special E.S.N, school during 1954, and the removal of East Ham children from this section of Faircross should enable us to admit the children at present on the waiting list. All 17 children who left this section during the year on ceasing to be of compulsory school age (6 Barking children, and 11 out-ofdistrict children) were recommended under Section 57 (5) of the Education Act 1944 for supervision by the Local Health Authority. One Barking and one Romford child were found to be ineducable and were reported accordingly under Section 57 (3) of the Act. |
e58b2cc6-4393-408f-b0d0-3624b3847f4d | Although these children might possibly have been certified as ineducable at an earlier stage, one always feels that it is fairer to give them the benefit of the doubt owing to the difficulties of assessment of individual cases, particularly in the younger child. The same caution is observed before children are admitted to the Educationally Sub-Normal Section, and children who re thought to be backward but capable of higher attainment are dealt with, as far as possible, in ordinary schools. I am pleased to record that during the year a special class was started in the Roding Junior Mixed School to deal specifically with these children who are of average or even above average in intelligence. This class takes children from other schools in the Borough, and it is the aim to return children to their normal class or school as soon as possible. I do hope that similar classes will be set up in other parts of the town, for I am sure the need exists. |
95f70e2a-724e-41c2-b85b-a6766ee924e1 | When the staffing ratio permits, ordinary schools deal with children of low intelligence working up to their full ability (the borderline E.S.N.) by means of small classes in the "D" stream—an arrangement which has much to commend it. The Physically Handicapped and Delicate At the end of 1953 there were 71 children in the Physically Handicapped and Open Air section of Faircross School, divid .d as follows:- Page 94 [ Barking Other districts Cerebral Palsy (Spastics) 8 1 Other diseases of nervous system 6 1 Diseases of Bones and Joints 5 2 Heart disease 4 5 Asthma 5 9 Bronchiectasis and other lung conditions 4 8 Debility 5 1 Others 3 4 40 31 Special facilities exist on the school premises for the treatment of physically handicapped children. |
b31df6c8-d435-4956-95f1-18773d45f821 | During the year arrangements were made for the Remedial Gymnast to attend the school for four whole days per week instead of four half-days as hitherto, and as a result of the appointment of a second Speech Therapist on a part-time basis, the number of Speech Therapy sessions held at the school has been increased from two to three per week. Views on Open-Air schools have altered considerably in recent years and in view of the design of modern school buildings there would appear to be little gained by sending certain children to an "OpenAir" School, particularly when this involves a journey in a crowded school coach. An exception must be made in the case of children who have become backward through the loss of much school time, and with their special skill and experience the Head Teacher and her staff are able to render much valuable assistance to such pupils. If the cases have been properly selected in the first place there is little likelihood that educationally sub-normal and physically-handicapped children will resume attendance at ordinary schools. |
76a493e0-d898-4592-9c64-f1bf06deba28 | The position with regard to children in the Open-Air Section is very different, and it is my constant endeavour to ensure that such children are returned to ordinary schools as soon as their physical condition permits. Whenever possible such transfers are timed to take place at the end of an academic year. Close co-operation between Head Teacher and School Medical Officer is desirable in all schools. In a Special School it is essential, and it is a pleasure to record my appreciation of the help afforded me by Miss Storm. |
8ef354ce-06c7-47e1-a52e-602ef9b1966d | Page 95 Other Special Schools Twenty-eight Barking children attend other special schools as follows :— Category Day Residential Blind - 2 Partially Sighted - 1 Deaf 4 2 Partially Deaf 6 2 Physically Handicapped - 2 Delicate - 1 Diabetic - 1 Epileptic - 2 E.S.N - 2 Maladjusted - 3 Convalescence Children requiring a short stay at the seaside or in the country following an illness or general debility, are sent for recuperative holidays. 114 schoolchildren were sent away during 1953 for periods averaging just over one month. Where a stay of more than two months is anticipated children are admitted to residential open-air schools so that their education does not suffer. Page 96 |
ac04e0cf-cfc5-415b-9f9f-bf533e6919ff | AC4411(1) BARKING BARK 48 BARKING'S HEALTH in 1954 BARK 48 CONTENTS Pages 1. Membership of Committees 2-3 2. Staff 4-5 3. Preface 6-7 4. General Public Health 9-38 5. Personal Health Services 39-53 6. School Health Service 55-67 7. Report of the Chief Sanitary Inspector 69-96 PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEE as at 31st December, 1954. Chairman—Alderman Mrs. JULIA H. ENGWELL Vice-Chairman—Councillor Mrs. E. G. LAW The Mayor—Councillor Mrs. M. BALL, J.P., C.A. Mr. Alderman A. C. COLE Alderman Mrs. A. M. MARTIN Mr. |
59f39339-913d-4d24-a9af-364bb2f709c4 | Alderman J. R. SWEETLAND Mr. Councillor S. W. BOSWELL Councillor Mrs. M. BREDO, C.C. Mr. Councillor G. H. COLLINS Councillor Mrs. D. M. GLENNY Mr. Councillor H. J. HILLS Mr. Councillor L. C. JONES Councillor Mrs. M. PRESTON Councillor Mrs. J. E. ROYCRAFT Mr. Councillor W. H. ROYCRAFT Mr. Councillor LEONARD WRIGHT BARKING COMMITTEE FOR EDUCATION as at 31st December, 1954. Chairman—Mr. Councillor TREVOR WILLIAMS Vice-Chairman—Councillor Mrs. J. E. ROYCRAFT Representative Members:— The Mayor—Councillor Mrs. M. BALL. |
9f7ee630-dd67-4d9c-8808-d69ef884d588 | J.P., C.A. Mr. Alderman A. E. BALL, J.P. Alderman Mrs. JULIA H. ENGWELL Alderman Mrs. A. M. MARTIN Mr. Alderman J. R. SWEETLAND Mr. Alderman W. G. WERMERLING Mr. Councillor G. J. G. BEANE Mr. Councillor G. H. COLLINS Mr. Councillor E. E. GOWER Mr. Councillor W. GWINNELL Mr. Councillor L. F. HENSTOCK Mr. Councillor H. J. HILLS Mr. Councillor L. C. JONES Councillor Mrs. E. G. LAW Mr. Councillor A. V. RAY Mr. Councillor S. R. ROWE Mr. Councillor W. H. ROYCRAFT Mr. |
4d5368f4-bdf3-45d7-b879-ff56f4864853 | Councillor LEONARD WRIGHT Co-opted Members:— Rev. W. F. P. CHADWICK The Very Rev. Canon J. A. DACEY Rev. B. F. HARVEY Mr. J. ANDREWS Mr. B. A. CLEMENTS Mrs. L. F. M. DAVIS Mrs. V. KEAY Mr. H. A. SMITH, J.P. Nominated Members:— Mr. County Alderman K. E. B. GLENNY, J. P. Mr. County Councillor G. H. SHALDERS Page 2 BARKING HEALTH AREA SUB-COMMITTEE of the Essex County Health Committee as at 31st December, 1954. Chairman—Alderman Mrs. JULIA H. ENGWELL Vice-Chairman—Councillor Mrs. |
50ed8003-5590-4632-88ad-97b2865a82c6 | E. G. LAW Barking Borough Council Representatives:— Essex County Council Representatives:— County Alderman Mrs. M. BALL, J.P. Mr. County Alderman F. CULLEN County Councillor Mrs. M. BREDO County Councillor C. F. H. GREEN County Councillor Mrs. A. J. MORRIS County Councillor Mrs. M. H. PAIGE The Executive Council for Essex Representative:— Mr. County Alderman K. E. B. GLENNY, J.P. The Local Medical Committee Representative:— Dr. W. J. C. FENTON, J.P. The Hospital Management Committee Representative:— Mrs. D. L. BELCHAMBER Voluntary Organisations' Representatives:— Mr. Alderman A. C. COLE Alderman Mrs. A. M. MARTIN Mr. Alderman J. R. SWEETLAND Mr. |
1575a4a0-e35f-49e3-b5a4-ba5e6c830ac2 | Councillor S. W. BOSWELL Mr. Councillor G. H. COLLINS Councillor Mrs. D. M. GLENNY Mr. Councillor H. J. HILLS Mr. Councillor L. C. JONES Councillor Mrs. E. G. LAW Councillor Mrs. M. PRESTON Councillor Mrs. J. E. ROYCRAFT Mr. Councillor W. H. ROYCRAFT Mr. Councillor S. C. SIVELL Mr. Councillor LEONARD WRIGHT Mr. J. W. HOLMES Mrs. M. A. HUSTWAYTE Miss M. MAYERS Mrs. |
f32d198d-9da7-474e-949c-34334f7f7c17 | E. POTTER Page 3 STAFF, 1954 Medical Officer of Health, Area Medical Officer, and Divisional School Medical Officer: D. E. CULLINGTON, M.A., M B., B.Ch., D.C.H., D.P.H. School Medical Officers and Assistant County Medical Officers: MARGARET I. ADAMSON, M.B., B.Ch., D.P.H. EILEEN E. V. MARTIN, M.B., B.Ch. EUGENIA POPPER, M.D. ARTHUR E. SELIGMANN, M.D., D.T.M. & H. VIOLET SPILLER, M.D., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.H. MARY H. WESTLAKE, M B., B.Ch., D.P.H. Dental Officers: A. R. LEVY, L.D.S.R.C.S. J. BUNTIN, L.D.S., R.F.P.S.G. |
15c294a2-bc08-40ea-92ea-df0411f70f59 | (Commenced 10.5.54) R. B. PITTS, L.D.S.R.C.S. (Commenced 29.3.54) H. H. COOKE, L.D.S.R.C.S. J. PRESSER, M.D Cert. D.S. (Vienna) Chief Sanitary Inspector: N. BASTABLE, F.R.S.I., F.S.I.A. Senior Sanitary Inspector: Mr. C. S. COOK Sanitary Inspectors: Mr. E. A. ELLIS Mr. B. HARRAWAY (Terminated 20.11.54) Mr. D. G. STRIPP (Terminated 27.11.54) Mr. E. G. TWEEDY Student Sanitary Inspectors: Mr. A. G. Merriman (Commenced 1.2.54) Mr. |
e23b2b2e-c6e2-4670-be45-e40e9961967c | B. R. Saunders (Commenced 12.11.54) Superintendent Health Visitor: Miss P. M. FAWCETT Health Visitors, School Nurses, etc.: Miss M. BAERLOCHER Miss C. M. BROWNING (Commenced 10.8.54) Miss A. CATTLE Mrs M. I. COOPER (Tuberculosis Health Visitor Terminated 5.6.54) Mrs. F. E. FENNA (Terminated 30.10.54) Miss N. A. FLUCK (Tuberculosis Health Visitor) Miss J. FRANCE Miss L. GOODACRE Miss G. K. JEFFREYS Miss J. McGILVRAY Miss E. PARRY Mrs. R. ROBERTSON (Commenced 15.2.54) Miss E. M. SCHROPI ER (Tuberculosis Health Visitor) Miss E. J. WHITING Page 4 STAFF, 1954— cont. |
efc26933-0f37-4f13-ad3e-bdc9a0ca3a3f | Dental Nurses, etc.: Miss H. BUSH (Dental Attendant) Mrs. V. HARDING (Dental Nurse) Miss G. GEDEN (Dental Nurse) Mrs. R. MOULE (Dental Nurse) In addition 18 part-time Nurses are employed for the staffing of the various Clinic services. Chief Clerk (Administrative): Mr. F. READ Senior Administrative Assistant: Mr. G. RUFF Administrative and Senior Clerical Assistants: Mr. B. S. WEAVER (Maternity and Child Welfare and Other Services) Mrs. E. M. BARTHOLOMEW (School Health Services) Miss H. BEARTON (Handicapped Pupils and Special Children) Mr. S. DEEKS (Supplies and Maintenance) Mr. |
99932cc6-1e6e-4914-93a2-bd3de0d77d31 | A. HOWLETT (Staffing) Non-Medical Supervisor of Midwives: Miss D. A. RISELEY District Midwives: Miss E. V. ASHTON Mrs. I. M. BRONNICK Miss A. CUNNINGHAM Matrons of Day Nurseries: Mrs. J. M. HOWELL (Terminated 10.12.54) Miss f. B. NASON Miss I. K. STOKES Domestic Help Organiser: Mrs. L. EVERITT Chief Chiropodist: Mr. F LEAVESLEY Senior Dental Technician: Mr. J. CONSTABLE Speech Therapist: Mrs. A. LING Oral Hygienist: Miss m. STANLEY Occupational Therapist: Miss Z. MERCER REGIONAL HOSPITAL BOARD STAFF Superintendent Physiotherapist: Mr. T. HYND Remedial Gymnast: Mr. |
245d46bd-4f33-478c-9146-554809933318 | H. OGLE Orthoptist Miss M. LEWIS Page 5 TOWN HALL, BARKING, ESSEX March, 1956. To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Barking. Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, Although this is only my second annual report as your Medical Officer of Health the majority of it was compiled after I had given notice of my resignation, and indeed these words are being written long after I have left. Once again the report will appear much too late and I can only offer as excuses my departure and, in later stages, the printing dispute. Of our activities during 1954 I should like to pick out for special mention co-operation, preventive mental health, health education and research. |
4f8a453f-25fe-4d0a-87e8-ea78b841f0dd | I think we can claim to have improved considerably the spirit of co-operation between family doctors and the public health team, and valuable personal contacts were made at a series of meetings at each of the clinics which were attended by somewhat over half the doctors practising in the Borough. In the field of mental health the Psychiatrists have been encouraged from the fastness of the Child Guidance Clinic and have invaded the Child Welfare Centres to advise mothers of very young children— and by early treatment thus preventing the development of more serious troubles. It is, however, only our own medical officers and health visitors who can undertake preventive work on a sufficiently broad basis, and in-service training has been developed to help them in this task. We are realizing, somewhat belatedly, that teaching, as opposed to dissemination of propaganda, calls not only for aptitude but some specialized training. |
39f96624-7752-4b84-abb8-1c2a7b4df0ba | This year, thanks largely to invaluable help from the Central Council for Health Education, most members of the field staff have gained further knowledge of modern techniques in health education and this experience has been put to excellent use. Page 6 Research is not always accepted as a function of a public health department. Much can be done almost incidentally to our day to day work however. What might otherwise be somewhat routine duties assume further interest and, equally important, modest contributions can be made to our scientific knowledge. I would particularly draw to your notice the work on combined immunization which was undertaken largely by Dr. Spiller with the aid of Dr. Holt of the Wright Fleming Institute. A report of this has since been published in the "British Medical Journal". An outbreak of infectious hepatitis and our "routine" efforts at control provided an opportunity to investigate the value of gamma-globulin, this time with help from Dr. McDonald of the Medical Research Council. Dr. |
64c17aac-6b25-447a-b532-c89b79c83215 | Adamson's investigations into the common but much neglected problems of athlete's foot and plantar warts, though yet in their early stages, and the comparisons of the Heaf and Mantoux tuberculin skin tests undertaken by Drs. Martin and Seligmann in connection with B.C.G. vaccination, are further examples of useful investigations which can be conducted as an integral part of day to day duties. I have left Barking with happy memories, many regrets and some feeling of guilt for causing a further change so soon which must be somewhat unsettling for many members of the staff. My thanks go to them for their loyalty and for all the hard work put in during the year. In particular the health visitors and certain of the office staff have willingly carried the extra burden caused by the immunization and gamma-globulin enquiries. I also wish to acknowledge the considerable personal assistance from the Borough Education Officer and the Head Teachers, the other Chief Officers and the County Medical Officer, Dr. G. G. Stewart. |
06279fa2-011c-453a-b328-b242145b54b0 | Finally, may I thank the Members of the Council and in particular the Chairman of the Public Health Committee, Alderman Mrs. J. Engwell, for their support during my brief tenure of office. I am, Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, Your obedient Servant, Medical Officer of Health. Page 7 Page 8a PERSPECTIVE OF ESTATE (after completion) GENERAL PUBLIC HEALTH THAMES VIEW HOUSING ESTATE The outstanding event of 1954 was undoubtedly the official opening of the Thames View Housing Estate by A. S. Charlton, Esq., C.B.E., of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government on 12th June, and by a happy coincidence the Chairman of your Housing Committee was Mayor at this time. Since my last annual report was written the Council has decided to increase the population density on this estate, partly by the erection of three blocks of multi-story flats. |
6f484796-0074-4e2b-807f-e265d67978b4 | Besides giving greater architectural variation these will afford you the opportunity of providing for a much neglected section of the population—the single person living alone and out working during the day. It is now anticipated that there will be some 2,000 units of accommodation with a total population approaching 10,000. In addition there will be 22 shops, 2 schools, 2 public houses, 2 churches and a clinic or possibly a health centre. The photograph on page 8a shows the estate as it was expected to appear when completed. This together with the following account appeared in the official souvenir brochure. "The estate, which will cover some 160 acres, lies immediately to the south of the Barking Bye-Pass and to the east of River Road, and is near the River Thames, hence its name. For hundreds of years this part of Barking has been known as the Ripple Marshes and the Council have always recognised that the site was far from ideal. |
6c126277-6ecb-403f-9c4f-f99e6ee05ff4 | However, faced with the urgent problem of providing houses to meet present-day needs and having upwards of 4,000 applications on its housing list, the Council had no option but to give this particular site careful consideration as there was no other available and large enough site in the Borough. The Council debated for some time the pros and cons of building on this site, or acquiring land outside the Borough. They made repeated enquiries for land outside the district but their negotiations to this end were unsuccessful. Ultimately it came to the point of deciding whether to make a compulsory purchase order in respect of and some miles away from Barking or using this site, which obviously required a considerable amount of money expended upon it before it could ever be used, for housing purposes. Page 9 One important factor which the Council have always had in mind is that should they build some miles away from Barking they would be imposing upon many of their people the additional burden of daily travel which has long been recognised, in the London area at any rate, as an expensive and exhausting experience. |
96606082-fd29-40c8-8d72-e1cff3df2b5c | The Council first discussed using this site in July 1949, but so many difficulties were encountered that it was not until September, 1953, that they were able to enter into negotiations for the erection of the first 113 dwellings on the site. The acquisition of the site has involved long and varied negotiations. Some 87 acres were in the possession of the Council and were held as allotment and industrial land. Alternative land had to be found for the allotment holders and negotiations were entered into with both the local allotments Society and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and ultimately a transfer was agreed. The remaining 73 acres are being acquired from the British Electricity Authority who have permitted the Council to enter upon the land pending the completion of the purchase. Town planning has loomed largely in the development of the estate. It will be appreciated that the Essex County Council is the town planning authority under the Town and Country Planning Act. 1947, and the Borough Council have had to submit all their development proposals to the County Council. |
4acca3aa-a093-46c2-92cd-4bdb1e663662 | Arising thereout involved discussions took place with the County Planning Office, and in December, 1951, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government convened a conference of representatives of the County Planning Committee and the Borough Council. he problems were fully investigated and that month planning approval was received from the County Council. The Borough Council's proposals for a Regional Open Space on land lying to the east of Renwick Road, will, when completed, add greatly to the amenities of the estate. The anticipated development of the estate is at the rate of some 300 dwellings a year and it will, therefore, take some 5-6 years to complete. It is hoped by the planting of trees to materially improve the general amenities of the estate and the Council look to the tenants to assist in making this development a great success by the proper cultivation of their front and back gardens. |
5abccd52-27a1-4a99-b881-2cb81226940b | It is anticipated that the total cost of the housing development will be in the region of £3¾ million and although the rents may Page 10 be somewhat higher than those of similar Council houses in other parts of the Borough, owing to the high cost involved in land acquisition and the preparation of the site for building, nevertheless the Council feel that prospective tenants will recognize the advantages of living within the Borough rather than having to pay heavy travelling expenses which would have been the case had the Council gone farther afield for building land." By the end of the year 113 dwellings on the estate were occupied, and plans for an infants' school and a clinic were at an advanced stage. Clinic Premises During the year the County Council approved the inclusion in their Capital Building Programme of clinic premises to serve the Thames View Estate, and the Borough Architect was requested to prepare plans for the building. Reference was made in last year's report to the fact that it was hoped eventually to include therein accommodation for general medical practitioner services. |
7a7cd301-87e1-4030-b97f-608dfb9f357e | It was realized, of course, that this would mean th building had to be classified as a health centre, and that under present circumstances there was little likelihood of the Ministry giving early approval to such a proposal. This is a very great pity since as the Medical Practices Committee for England and Wales told the Minister in its fifth Annual Report published during the year, "it cannot be too strongly emphasized that once patients on such an estate have been accepted on the list of a doctor outside its boundary, it is of little or no avail to anyone if the Local Authority subsequently provides land or property for other doctors to practise within the estate itself, either from their own houses or from a health centre. The time when this provision should be made is when the first dwellings become occupied or shortly after." We have worked on the assumption that, however much undesirable delay there may be, the family doctors and local authority staff will eventually work together under one roof. |
70e97018-e166-487e-8f72-ba55665252da | Although the distinction may seem unimportant, we have, therefore, planned a health centre, part of which can be erected immediately to form a self-contained clinic, rather than design a clinic which could later be extended to include accommodation for general practitioners. Page 11 Existing health centres suffer from the ambitious planning which was in accord with the wave of optimism accompanying the launching of the National Health Service, and the premises are often far too extensive and expensive to be reproduced on the scale originally envisaged. Much of the accommodation is to be shared between general practitioners and the local authority staff, and we hope that most parts of the building will eventually be in use for the greater part of the day. This will, of course, be reflected in lower building costs and running expenses but, much more important to my mind, there will be the opportunity for very close integration of what hitherto have been two separate services. There will be one main entrance, with a reception desk facing the doors. |
00def45e-3463-4af1-b266-03fdfc0c0de5 | The reception and secretarial staff will cater both for the general practitioners' patients and those attending the local authority's clinics. An effort has been made to get away from the traditional waiting hall with its flavour of a hospital out-patients department and we are suggesting instead a waiting space which makes the best use of its southern aspect, and the views across the school playing fields. For functional purposes this space will be divided by low partition walls. A Health Visitors' office, welfare room and medical officers' room form a convenient maternity and child welfare suite The medical work, both at ante-natal and infant welfare sessions, could well be carried out by the family doctors for their own patients if the Local Executive Council decide to carry out their original intention to appoint two doctors to the estate. No special provision has been made for a school children's minor ailment room. |
540c5f3b-3299-4a76-b9ed-97810325cfda | Initially, a spare room upstairs will be used for this purpose, whilst eventually, when general practitioners conduct surgeries in the building, there is no reason why the children should not consult their own family doctors, and receive any necessary treatment in the treatment room from nurses provided by the local health authority. Upstairs, provision has been made for a school dentist and ultimately for a general dental practitioner to be employed by the local executive council. The latter's surgery will provide a convenient temporary home for the school medical officers, and for school medical examinations if—as I fear—you are not able to provide adequate Page 12 accommodation for these in the new Thames View School. A large room has been provided for the purpose of holding relaxation classes, film shows and for general health education purposes. There is also a staff room which, it is hoped, will be used by all members of the staff working from the centre—thus assisting full co-operation. |
7462a59b-7a19-4109-b39f-75b9467dd13e | General Practitioner Services Since it was realized that the accommodation for general practitioners in the Health Centre was unlikely to be available for some years, consideration had to be given to alternative provision. The Health Area Sub-Committee did suggest that the Greatfields Clinic might be used by those general practitioners appointed to serve the estate. This is not too conveniently sited for such a purpose, and there seemed to be considerable doubt as to whether accommodation could legally be rented either to doctors or to the Local Executive Council without the clinic being designated a health centre. The Borough Council's Housing Committee was aware of these difficulties, and also had before it a request from the Local Executive Council asking that two sites on the estate be reserved for doctors' houses. You provisionally reserved these two sites and you also agreed that, purely as a temporary measure, one house on the estate should be let to a doctor to be nominated by the Local Executive Council in order to provide surgery accommodation until the Health Centre was ready. |
0cc47ff0-0cd6-43d0-8d6d-05907a8a5ff4 | The principles to be adopted in selecting doctors to serve the estate have not yet been settled. The responsibility lies with the Local Executive Council, after consideration of the recommendations of the Local Medical Committee. This latter committee in turn called a meeting of local doctors to obtain their views. The doctors pointed out that patients rehoused on the estate would not be new patients—they would simply be moving from one part of the town to another, and would be already on the list of Barking doctors They, therefore, felt strongly that it was unnecessary to bring new doctors into the area specifically to serve the new Thames View Estate, and that existing practitioners should be given the opportunity of providing services there. There is much logic in this argument and I have every sympathy with the doctors' point of view. Unfortunately, Barking is what is known as an "open area" and the Local Executive Council have no power to prevent new doctors setting up practice. |
90629729-13fd-4bed-aa5f-93f22093ff06 | In fact, two have done so since the time the meeting Page 13 was convened by the Local Medical Committee. For all practical purposes, therefore, it seems to me that the Local Executive Council could have carried through their original proposal to appoint two doctors to the estate without there being any different end result except that their entry to Barking could have been "controlled" rather than "uncontrolled". Co-operation between general practitioners and the health visitors and other members of the local authority team serving the estate would thus have been rendered much easier. These two general practitioners could have undertaken treatment of minor ailments of school children as well as seeing their own patients at ante-natal clinics and advising the health visitor where necessary on problems arising in the infant welfare clinics. There would also have been no insuperable obstacles to their undertaking the routine work of medical examinations in the adjacent schools. |
285a322f-0aee-407c-8225-881afcea8a3f | All of this is work in which many general practitioners have an understandable and commendable interest, but it will not, I fear, be possible to include them if the Local Executive Council decides that ten or more existing doctors all share the work on the estate. HEALTH EDUCATION Last year I referred to the fact that I felt health education was one of the most important functions of a health department. I think it fair to say that whilst Medical Officers, Health Visitors, Sanitary Inspectors and others have a deep knowledge of matters pertaining to health, they have little training in methods of "putting it across" to others. Both Medical officers and Health Visitors receive their basic training in the treatment of the sick, and it is only later that attention is given to the promotion of health. Even those Medical Officers who take a D.P.H. still do not receive adequate training in health education methods, and it is only the more recently qualified Health Visitors who have received any instruction in this field. |
c523e7ea-32db-417a-956e-2ec795f32f75 | It is thus necessary to arrange suitable "in-service" training and the highlight of the year was undoubtedly the visit of Dr. Davies, Education Officer to the Central Council for Health Education, who came to Barking in order to give us a two-day course on modern methods of health education. The course was attended not only by Medical Officers, Sanitary Inspectors and Health Visitors but by others including the Chief Chiropodist, Oral Hygienist and Mr. Howlett Page 14 who has given us most valuable help with the preparation of visual aids. This course, which was repeated later in the year for those who could not be spared on the first occasion, was of the greatest interest and stimulation to us all. Since then various members of the health team have been more than usually active in giving lectures to various bodies in the town, and they have made good use both of the experience gained in the use of visual aids and of certain sound filmstrips which have also been developed by the Central Council for Health Education. |
ee40a7dc-9f62-41a5-8b8e-65262fa2f4e0 | MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH Population The population of Barking at mid-1954, according to the Registrar General's estimate, was 76,580. This shows a further decrease from the figure of 78,170 at the 1951 Census. Births 998 live births and 29 still births were registered during 1954, distributed as follows:— Live Births:— Males Females Total Legitimate 493 465 958 Illegitimate 24 16 40 Totals 517 481 998 Still-Births:— Legitimate 14 15 29 Illegitimate - - - Totals 14 15 29 Total Live and Still-Births 531 496 1,027 Birth Rate per 1,000 of Estimated Population 13.03. Birth Rate adjusted by Comparability Factor of 0.93=12.12. Still-Birth rate per 1,000 (Live and Still) Births 28.24. |
79d59837-e126-4453-8fac-671729e89923 | Page 15 Loss of Infant Life In 1954 the infant death rate fell to 20 per 1,000 live births— the second lowest figure yet recorded in Barking. Whilst you will be pleased at this, I must warn you that, with relatively small numbers, rates such as these are bound to fluctuate somewhat and there may well be an upward swing again next year. Of the 20 deaths occurring under the age of 1 year, no fewer than 16 were "neonatal" deaths and all took place within 1 week of birth mainly from such causes as heart failure and collapse of the lungs associated with prematurity. |
9d421a16-5863-4bae-8901-737d4a153fa7 | Add these 16 neonatal deaths to the 29 still-births and we have 45 babies who died before or soon after birth for reasons (let us admit) which we do not fully understand, Contrast these with the 4 babies who died later in their first year of life and you will realize (as I pointed out last year) that no material improvement can be expected through the efforts of your infant welfare services. We need research into the causes of these "peri-natal" deaths, and then we shall have to apply the knowledge in our antenatal clinics and the maternity hospitals. We have already helped the National Birthday Trust Fund with one such investigation into the reasons for premature births, but unfortunately their preliminary report, issued during the year, gave few clues as to the causes. |
ec61b83c-fa8e-4579-a3ec-07199969e046 | Their findings confirmed that premature births were more likely to occur in wives of unskilled workers, and also that they more frequently occurred in younger mothers (under the age of 21) or in those in the later stage of reproductive life (over 30 years). Whatever benefits were conferred by adequate ante-natal care, prevention of prematurity was apparently not included, whilst employment during pregnancy appeared not to affect the prematurity rate. It was pointed out, however, that this study related only to mothers having a first baby, and that many of these were living with parents or in-laws and had few domestic responsibilities. Later studies of women undertaking both full household duties and outside employment may tell another story. Other findings were that shorter mothers tended to have premature babies, and that there was a similar tendency amongst those who found it difficult to conceive. Both points are interesting but difficult to apply directly to the problem of preventing prematurity. |
39bc15fe-5da9-4bbd-9dd0-23c36b7ec1b1 | Page 16 DEATHS Causes of Death in 1954 Total Tuberculosis and other Infectious Diseases 13 Cancer and other Malignant Diseases 169 Diseases of the Brain and Nervous System 53 Diseases of the Heart and Circulatory System 189 Pneumonia, Bronchitis and other respiratory diseases (excluding T.B.) 67 Diseases of the Stomach and Digestive System 13 Accidents, Poisonings and Violence 23 Infant Deaths and Congenital Malformations 20 Other causes 69 Total 616 Crude Death Rate per 1,000 Estimated Population 8.04. Adjusted Death Rate (Comparability Factor 1.33)= 10.70. Both the crude and adjusted death rates were slightly lower in 1954, but the picture remains broadly the same with diseases of the heart and circulatory system claiming one-third of all deaths, and cancer and diseases of the brain accounting for another third. |
26e8ed4f-dc51-4773-ac60-53ef37fce9c2 | ACCIDENTS IN THE HOME Last year the Committee considered Home Office Circular 106/53 with which was enclosed a report of the Standing Interdepartmental Committee on Accidents in the Home. You expressed great interest in this matter and asked me to report further at a later date. When doing so I made the suggestion that it might be helpful to affiliate with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and you agreed to seek such affiliation. Following this decision there was prolonged correspondence between the Town Clerk ;nd various government departments. The Minister of Housing and Local Government stated that a local authority which was not a local health authority had no legal power to make such subscription, although it was open to such authority to make a donation to a voluntary body working within the area. I thereupon suggested that the expenditure could be made under Section 179 of the Public Health Act which gives local authorities power to spend money on Page 17 literature and propaganda relating to matters of health and disease. |
47529a5f-609a-4537-9b58-bc8f1ee9b094 | The Minister of Housing and Local Government replied that, whilst no prior approval was required to expenditure under that section, he was still of the opinion that the Council would not be empowered to subscribe to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents under that Act. I next drew the attention of the Town Clerk to a section of the Report of the Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health for 1952 in which it is clearly stated:— "... A considerable number of local authorities are showing an active interest in accident prevention and medical officers of health and their staffs are especially concerned. . . . This field of preventive work is clearly one for the Medical Officer of Health and his staff. . . ." |
64524922-a6e3-47d4-929a-86f790d2c6c7 | Despite the fact this correspondence had commenced in mid-1953 it did not finish until early 1955 with a letter from the Ministry of Health in which the Minister expressed his concurrence with the view of the Minister of Housing and Local Government that at Section 179 of the Public Health Act would not empower the Council to subscribe to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. The work of preventing accidents in the home is clearly work which should be undertaken as an integral part of the duties of the health visitors and other health workers who enter the home, and it should require no separate organization. Whilst I an fully aware that the difficulty could be overcome by the setting up of specially, and technically voluntary, home safety committee, I ha not suggested that we adopt this rather clumsy device of overcoming Ministerial red tape. We do not want more committees and more taking. We need action by health visitors and others, and such organizations as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to provide us with propaganda material and stimulation. |
8a1c2370-7101-4c50-91df-edf2d506e824 | The Society must have financial support and it should be possible for local authorities to give this modest help. Since this report was first written an article entitled "Accident in the Home", by one of the Ministry's Medical Officers, has been published in the Monthly Bulletin of the Ministry of Health. To quote from this: ". . . it is felt that this is a fruitful field of opportunity for preventive medicine by the Medical Officer of Health an Page 18 staff". After referring to the services provided by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents it continues: . . . this would seem a particularly effective method of providing the M.O.H. with material for his campaign against this largely preventable hazard". Perhaps with the help of the Home Office, the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health may yet convince his lay colleagues in his own Ministry and in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government that the prevention of accidents in the home is more important than trivial legal niceties. |
7a128e3f-8b75-4fd1-8b9a-796a873aa45c | INFECTIOUS DISEASES The following notifications were received during the year:— Notifications Deaths Pneumonia 47 29 Tuberculosis: Respiratory 60 71 11 12 Non-respiratory 11 1 Scarlet Fever 113 - Dysentery 93 - Puerperal Pyrexia 60 - Measles 58 - Whooping Cough 43 - Food Poisoning 25 - Erysipelas 21 - Scabies 10 - Malaria 2 - Meningococal Infection 2 - Poliomyelitis - - Diphtheria - - In addition I was unofficially informed of 290 cases of infective hepatitis (epidemic jaundice), a disease which is not, at present, notifiable in Barking. Pneumonia Although pneumonia is notifiable, it is not infectious in the sense of being a disease spread by germs from person to person, and there is little point nowadays in its being notifiable. |
91826f08-bfe5-4d57-b86f-4b6164fcef22 | Tuberculosis I have included tuberculosis here to emphasize that it is an infectious disease just as much as diphtheria or measles. It is such a big and important topic that I have devoted a special section to it. Page 19 Scarlet Fever The number of cases notified was much the same as last year, and they were distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. The disease nowadays is invariably mild and there is little point in its continued notification—particularly since the disease is merely a streptococcal sore throat or tonsillitis with an associated rash. It is quite illogical to notify those children with a rash whilst those suffering from the same disease without the rash (and equally infective) are not notified and have no restrictions placed upon them. Dysentery There was a further sharp increase in the number of cases notified this year. |
3846ed00-df87-4d2c-a2fd-78832b594e15 | There was no "carry over" from the Monteagle outbreak mentioned in my last report, since this was contained by the end of 1953, and no definite outbreak occurred in 1954. There was simply a large number of apparently unconnected cases, and I feel that the figures reflect more complete notification rather than any true increase. Puerperal Pyrexia Here again I think the higher total this year results from more thorough notification since, whilst the notifications received from the Senior Medical Officer of the Maternity Hospital have remained fairly steady those from a newly appointed junior have been much more numerous than those from her predecessor. Measles Only 58 cases were reported during the year and Barking has now been free from an epidemic for a longer period than at any time since the disease was first made notifiable. This, coupled with the fact that the disease was spreading in our direction from the Walthamstow and Wanstead areas during the year, made it virtually certain that a further epidemic would occur early in 1955. |
42755e8f-ad1d-4dab-a13d-53bdf76b371b | Whooping Cough We were also fortunate in being relatively free from whooping cough—only 43 cases being notified during 1954. It is much too early yet to say whether or not this is the result of our immunization programme, but one hopes that it is and that figures will remain low. Whooping cough is still a most distressing disease, it still kills (particularly young babies), and, of course, also gives rise to most disabling lung disease. Page 20 I should particularly like to draw your attention to the preliminary results of our investigations into "combined" whooping cough and diphtheria immunization reported on page 48. Malaria You will no doubt be curious to know more about these two notifications. Both were in respect of the same individual—a member of the Services who suffered two relapses of an infection contracted whilst in the Far East. |
aca49ab0-8a60-4b1a-92b9-b6b90a43a10c | Poliomyelitis Fortunately no case of polio developed in 1954—possibly one of the minor blessings of the very poor "summer" weather. The results of the trials of polio vaccine being carried out in America will be anxiously awaited, and—if a safe and effective vaccine becomes available—I have no doubt that there will be a heavy demand for this from parents. Diphtheria This year we came dangerously near to having our first case since 1949. A swab taken from a child with a sore throat grew diphtheria germs but these were later shown to be of a mild and relatively harmless type, and he was diagnosed as suffering from an ordinary tonsillitis. Swabs which had in the meantime been taken from other members of the family were all reported as "negative". As I said last year the present generation of parents have no experience of this ghastly disease and they are becoming apathetic about immunization. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.