[Report 1942] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council.

  • Cumberland (England). County Council.
Date:
1942
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1942] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/58 (page 6)
    The' report has Ireen adopted in principle by the two Local Authorities, the Cumlrerland Infirmary, and the White- haven Hospital. During the year negotiations were begun, and arc con- tinuing, for the establishment of a cancer organisation for the North-East of England, with the Royal Victoria Inhrmar}-, Newcastle, as the base hcjspital for the area. Representatives of the County Council ha\-c attended all the meetings of the conference, which, in its draft report, has recognised that the isolation of this area presents an unusual and difficult problem calling for special consideration. Since the issue of the last Annual Report the Cancer Annexe at the E.M.S. Hospital at Shotley Bridge has come into operation, and to this' we are now sending cancer patients, as well as to the Christie Hospital and Radium Institute, Manchester, and to certain other hospitals. Venereal Diseases. Thei'e has been anxiety tliroughout the country regarding the increased incidence of these diseases, a situation cummonl\- associated with war-time conditions. I have, therefore, thought it justifiable, even in the.se days of paper shortage, to have printed the attached graphs, which have been prepared by the Venereal Diseases Officer. The.se graphs show tlie lluctuations of the past decade and the effect of war-time conditions. The explanation of the dramaftc drop in the gonorrhoea graph from 1938 to 1949 probably lies in the fact that in 1938 the treatment of gonorrhoea by M. N B. 993 came into general use. The ('linic attendance figures, especially in the ca^^e of gonorrhoea, are only part of the .story, and the sharp tlrop in the gonorrlujea graph may not be a true index of the jwsition. .\ word on Rtgulation 33B. may be worth while. Thi.^ Regulation, which came into o]:)eration on the 1st January, 1943, is aimed at ensuring that persons suspected of sprea<ling \'enereal disease shall be recpiired to .submit thcm.selves for examination, and, if fonnd to be sources of infection, to treat- ment. Tlie Regulation provides that a Medical Dfficer on receiving two notifications in resj^ect of a person suspe..tetl of being a souice of infection shall take certain steps. Nine months experience of the working of the Regulation shows that in this area at least it looks like being a dead letter. In only one case have 1 received the necessary two notifica- tions, but in quite a number of cases I ha\’e recei\e(.l one