[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham].

  • West Ham (London, England). County Borough
Date:
1938
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    39/478 page 35
    GENERAL PROVISION OF HEALTH SERVICES. This section of the report deals in detail with certain minor aspects of the health services, and introduces the arrangements which are in force at the present time regarding the major services. A full account of these major services will be found in later sections of this report. Laboratory facilities. It has not so far been found practicable to centralize the bacteriological work of the borough, though it is possible that such a scheme, which would undoubtedly have many advantages, will materialize at a later date. At the Isolation Hospital, Plaistow, routine bacteriological work in connection with patients in the wards is carried out, and facilities are also available for practitioners to have the simpler bacteriological examinations—such as the examination of throat swabs, or the carrying out of agglutination reactions using the commoner organisms—performed here. Details of the results of such examinations are given in the report on the hospital. The examination of sputum for the tubercle bacillus is carried out at the tuberculosis dispensary. More complicated bacteriological methods, such as the examination of milk, are usually carried out by the bacteriologist to Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, and the Medical Officer of Health may at times direct that samples, the examination of which involves special technique, should be sent to other laboratories. It is regrettable that the other large hospitals which are controlled by the Council are not yet able to carry out their own bacteriological work, or to have this work done for them at a municipal laboratory. Many of the specimens from these hospitals are sent to the laboratory of the Clinical Research Asso ciation. Panel practitioners may, by arrangement between the West Ham Insurance Committee and Queen Mary's Hospital, have reports on any pathological material submitted by them for examination. Particulars of the examinations carried out at certain hospitals owned by the local authority will be found in the appropriate sections. The Council employs a part-time analyst to carry out the chemical examination of water, milk and other foodstuffs. This officer is also the official analyst under the Fertilisers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1926. The analyst's report will be found in the section which deals with the supervision of food. 35
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