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

  • West Ham (London, England). County Borough.
Date:
[1934]
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.

    114/206 (page 110)
    PLAISTOW HOSPITAL. The Medical Superintendent (Dr. D. Maclntyre) reports as follows:— The number of patients under treatment during 1933 was 2,080. This is a slight increase over the number treated in the previous year. The total deaths numbered 105, as compared with 128 in the previous year. In the early part of the year the Children's Hospital at Harold Wood was transferred to the Public Assistance Committee to relieve the overcrowding of the chronic sick in their institutions. This Hospital, which had 116 beds for fever cases, had been used for the convalescence of scarlet fever and diphtheria patients from Plaistow Hospital, and by its transference to the Public Assistance Committee the accommodation available for infectious diseases was reduced by one-third. Also the convalescence, particularly of diphtheria patients, was not so satisfactory at Plaistow Hospital as it had been previously in the healthier environment of the Harold Wood Hospital. On account of the reduced accommodation, the practice of admitting severe cases of whooping cough, measles and pneu monia had to be discontinued. The accommodation was reserved almost entirely for scarlet fever and diphtheria, the preference being given to diphtheria cases. Unfortunately, these two diseases increased in prevalence during the year, and it was found impos sible to admit many of the scarlet fever cases that were notified. The first signs of a rising epidemic of scarlet fever occurred in June, and thereafter the number of admissions rapidly increased until the beginning of October, when the accommodation proved insufficient for the admission of all the cases notified. The type of disease remained mild. An unsually virulent type of diphtheria appeared in the district during the month of February, and cases of this type continued to be admitted throughout the rest of the year. The fatality from the disease steadily increased in spite of the administration of large doses of antitoxin, and by the end of the year the deaths numbered 49 as compared with 9 in the previous year. No case of typhoid fever was under treatment during the year. Two cases had been admitted as such, but they did not prove to be suffering from the disease. Measles was not prevalent during the year, and only a few cases were under treatment. 110