[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Orsett].

  • Orsett (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1932
Catalogue details

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

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

    6/53 (page 4)
    4 A considerable reduction in the number of animals slaughtered for human consumption during the past two years will be noted. This is attributed to the popularity of frozen meat and to the fact that certain butchers kill in slaughterhouses outside the district. Frozen meat is cheaper for the public and entails less trouble and waste for the butcher than home-killed meat. Infectious diseases show an all-round reduction from 1930, with the exception of Pneumonia. All cases of Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria were removed to hospital. Many Local Authorities have adopted the practice, where conditions permit, of home isolation for cases of Scarlet Fever. Exhaustive experience in ail parts of the country has shown that this does not lead to secondary cases in infected houses, and leaves beds free for patients more in need of skilled nursing treat ment. From the financial viewpoint the practice has everything to commend it. The details of the work of the Venereal Diseases Clinic at Gravesend, which serves the district of the old Orsett Hundred in addition to an area in Kent, give only a faint idea of the gravity of one of the biggest social problems of to-day. Blindness, imbecility, mental and physical disease, crime, and deformity can be traced in a large proportion of instances to venereal disease, either acquired or hereditary, whilst the burden upon the public purse for measures to cope with them is crippling. I wish to express my indebtedness to the Council for their support during the year. To my colleagues in other departments, to all those bodies who have supplied details for this Report, and to the local medical prac titioners I take this opportunity of saying how much their co-operation has been appreciated. I am, Your obedient servant, W. T. G. BOUL, m.d., ch.b. d.p.h., medical Officer of Health. Public Health Dept., Quarry Hill, Grays, Essex.