[Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Leicester Borough.

  • Leicester (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Leicester Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    36/184 (page 26)
    In addition, the Local Health Authority could, with the approval of the Minister, make arrangements for immunisation against any other disease. It was not, however, felt that medical knowledge anent the prevention of any other disease had reached a sufficient stage of accuracy to justify the inclusion of such procedure in the formal Proposals. It is hoped, however, that the position as regards immunisation against whooping cough will soon be stabilised, and that the formal adoption of Proposals against whooping cough may be possible. As regards immunisation against diphtheria, the procedure already in operation for the immunisation of children at infant welfare clinics, at ad hoc clinics, in the schools, and by general practitioners, was continued. Much the same procedure was adopted for vaccination, and power was taken to hcjld, as necessary, special campaigns to secure mass vaccination. Unfortunately, owing to the fact that negotiations between the Ministry of Health and the British Medical Association regarding the fee to be paid to the general practitioner for the records which the Local Health Authority required of immunisation and vaccination had not been concluded, probably a large number of such records has not reached the department and therefore any figures included in this report as to the number of persons immunised or vaccinated, are incomplete. No doubt later on it will be possible to correct these as further information becomes available. Section 27. Ambulance Service With the introduction of the National Health Service Act, all transport by ambulance became free. As was expected, the number of calls upon the Ambulance Service greatly increased, and this increase is shown in the tables below, where the work carried out by the Ambulance Service during the first six months of the year is shown separately from that carried out during the second six months. The Local Health Authority, fully aware that there would be an increase in the demands on the Service, and also that it could not by itself meet all the calls which would be made upon it, negotiated formal agreements with the Leicester and County Convalescent Homes Society and the St. John Ambulance Committee for the use of their ambulances. This arrangement has proved to be most satisfactory, and the help from these two Societies has been much appreciated. The work done by the vehicles of these two Societies is shown in separate tables.