[Report 1939] / Medical Officer of Health, Newcastle-upon-Tyne City & County.

  • Newcastle upon Tyne (England). City & County Council.
Date:
1939
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1939] / Medical Officer of Health, Newcastle-upon-Tyne City & County. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the maintenance of hygienic conditions in factories ; the institution of a reasonable working day ; the supervision of the milk supply— would either cease altogether or would, at any rate, be modified to meet the demands and exigencies of the war effort. Accordingly, though the total of the accommodation for patients has been reduced slightly, owing to the difficulty of providing adequate air-raid protection, there has been no diminution in the facilities provided by the Dispensary and visiting services, and the Tuber¬ culosis Officer continues to keep a close supervision on the whole situation. The tuberculosis mortality rates for 1939 were respec¬ tively 0.82 per 1,000 population for tuberculosis of the respiratory system and 0.17 per 1,000 for the other tuberculous diseases. The former is the lowest death rate for pulmonary tuberculosis ever recorded in this City, but it should be compared with the rate of 0.532 per 1,000 which was the rate for England and Wales in 1938. The non-pulmonary death rate was about the average for the preceding three years. It stands to be compared with the national rate for 1938 of 0.103. Though our disparity with the national rates for tuberculosis is a matter for report and concern, we can obtain some measure of satisfaction from the fact that 35 years ago the death rate from non-pulmonary tuberculosis which was then 0.83 per 1,000, was higher than our present death rate from the pulmonary disease itself. Again contrasting 1939 with 1909, our total tuberculosis mortality is now one-half of what it was thirty years ago. But the national death rate from tuberculosis has fallen bv 66% in the same period, and that difference is the measure of our deficiency, and should set the standard for our watchfulness. Venereal Diseases. The outbreak of the war brought many difficulties upon the venereal diseases services. The clinic was deprived, almost immediately, of the assistance of a number of its male orderly staff, who happened to have obligations to fulfil with the armed forces. The military authorities adopted as their standards of cure for the commonest venereal disease—gonorrhoea—criteria less stringent than those usually required by the civilian clinics. The Ministry of Health while advocating an increase in the facilities for treatment and extension of propaganda and educational activities, found itself unable to contribute towards the cost of such activities. Here, then, were a set of problems sufficient to exercise the ingenuity and administrative capacity of the Clinical Medical Officer