[Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council.

  • Somerset Council
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/84 (page 8)
    Blind Persons. The general work is carried out by the Somerset Itliiid Association on l)ehalit' of, and with a gi’ant from, the County Council. Six Home Teachers wei'e employed by the County Blind Associa¬ tion during lh4S. There wei’e B) Home Workers under the su])ervision of the Bristol Boyal ICind .\sylum ^\'orkshops. .\t the end of lUhS there were !)()! persons in the County registered as blind, compared with 865 at the end of 1647. Certiiication by a medical practitioner with special experience in ophthalmology is required before registration. Where possible we make use of the County Oculists for certification 2)urposes and du ring lt)48 they examined 93 cases, 69 of whom were admitted to the register. Orthopaedic Scheme. The County Scheme, and the results of working dining 1918, are described in considerable detail in my report for 1948 as School iMedical Officer. Prevalence and Control over Infectious and other Diseases. Generally, the Isolation Hospital beds which were available were the same as for the previous year. The cases of notifiable diseases and their distribution are set out in table VI. The hospital accommodation was found to be adequate for the needs. Staffing difficulties in various hospitals were acute, and this matter gives continual anxiety. There was a marked decrease in the nundier of cases of measles and of poliomyelitis. Diphtheria showed only 6 cases against 16 last year. Scarlet fever cases were more and whoop¬ ing cough showed an increase of over 400 cases. O O