Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health 1910 / Wimbledon Borough Council.
- Wimbledon (London, England). Borough Council.
- Date:
- [1911]
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health 1910 / Wimbledon Borough Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.
40/196 page 32
![Only T notifications were received under tlie voluntary system in addition to tlie 13 received under tlie Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, which came into force on January 1st, 1909. In all cases of Phthisis inquiries are made by the Depart¬ ment with regard to getting disinfection carried out, but in 21 cases this was refused, and in 1 case the disinfection was carried out by the owner. Great difficulty is experienced in getting disinfection after deaths from Phthisis carried out, due largely to the fact that unless notifications of the deaths come in promptly week by week the period which elapses between the occurrence of the death, and the notification coming into this Department, is sufficient for the people to have got over the trouble of the funeral and genera] • pset connected with the death, and to have settled down to the ordinary routine again, and they are extremely loth to allow us to upset the whole house again, whereas if we can get into the house within a week the people are usually willing to allow us to thoroughly disinfect. During last year, owing to the delay which has so often occurred in getting in the death returns, we have been much hampered in this direction. At the same time we find in a certain number of the cases the people move out after the funeral, and the new tenants are not at all anxious to be disturbed. Day by day the necessity of dealing with Tuberculosis is being forced to our notice owing to more accurate knowledge as to the means of its spread and the extent of infection. The following letter was received from Croydon with respect to using the Joint Small Pox Hospital at Cheam as a sanatorium for Tuberculosis :— (Copy.) Public Health Department, Town Hall, Croydon, July 18 th, 1910. Gentlemen, In (accordance with your instructions, I beg to report on the question of utilising the hospital for patients suffering from tuberculosis. As desired I have also conferred with the Medical Officer of the Local Government Board who is personally in sympathy with the suggested utilisation of the hospital for other than small-pox patients. The first question that arises is the legality of utilising a small-pox hospital for patients suffering from other diseases. As the Croydon and Wimbledon Joint Board was constituted for the sole and specific purpose of isolating small-pox it would doubtless be necessary to apply for an amendment of the Provisional Order under which the Board was constituted. It is passible that such an amending Order would be opposed by people living in the neighbourhood of the hospital, and if it were, we might have to face an expensive fight in the Houses of Parliament and the risk of interference with the present use of the hospital. Apart from this difficulty I can see considerable advantage in utilising the hospital for tuberculosis.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30438329_0040.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
