[Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Grantham Borough.

  • Grantham (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1909] / Medical Officer of Health, Grantham Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    third. In each instance I made enquiries to ascertain that proper steps were taken to prevent further infection by means of the nurse engaged, or otherwise. There were 14 deaths from phthisis : 1 between the ages of 5 and 15 years, 6 between 15 and 25 years, and 7 between 25 and 65 years. Disinfection is practised after deaths from this disease. Three notifications were received of this disease under the new order from Poor Law Medical Officers. One case was attended and supervised till his death, by the Victoria Nurse; the second case, when visited after the receipt of the notification, was found to have died ; and the third case was notified from a neighbouring Union, hut upon enquiry the patient never arrived at the address given. No arrangements have been made by the Sanitary Authoritv for the open-air treatment of these cases ; but in many cases efforts have been made to obtain orders for the admission to Sanatoria of poor patients suffering from tubercular lung disease, by letters of recommendation from private subscribers, and the Medical Prac- titioners are well aware of the importance of fresh air treatment, and the danger of the spread of the disease by the infected sputum ; and, in several instances, where removal of the patients was impracticable, efforts have been made to secure, as far as possible, open-air treatment in their own homes. The house accommodation for the working classes is, for the most part, highly satisfactory. But in some of the older parts of the town the construction and surroundings of the houses are not such as would comply with the requirements of modern views, and it is in such areas that the poorer and more neglectful and thriftless section of the population congregates. So that the defects are partly due to the old and faulty construction of the premises, and partly to the carelessness, dirtiness, and neglect of the occupants. Efforts have been made to remedy such defects as can be legally so defined, as to bring them under the jurisdiction of sanitary legisla- tion, and, in some instances, landlords have shown a willingness to make an attempt to improve the general conditions of the premises, and so to secure a better class of tenant. But the difficulty is, and always has been, to cause any permanent improvement in this class of property, which has sunk to the level of low rents and thriftless tenants. In some such instances the tenants are far back in their payments, the property scarcely pays its way, and it is difficult to find sufficient positive evidence to prove to the satisfaction of the Authority that such tenements should be closed. Happily there are
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