[Report 1968] / Medical Officer of Health, Dublin City.

  • Dublin (Ireland). City Council
Date:
1968
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1968] / Medical Officer of Health, Dublin City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/156 (page 13)
    INFECTIOUS DISEASES M. Crowe, f.r.c.p.i., d.p.h., t.d.d. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Article 12 of the Infectious Diseases Regulations, 1948 imposes on Dublin Health Authority the obligation of making arrange- ments for the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases in persons living in Dublin City and County and Dun Laoghaire Borough. Over 40 diseases are specified to be infectious diseases for the purpose of these Regulations. To meet its obligations under these Regulations, the Health Authority, in addition to its medical, nursing, and health inspector personnel, own and administer Vergemont Fever Hospital (105 beds plus a smallpox unit) and Dublin Fever Hospital (282 beds, although operating on 230 beds as 2 ward blocks remained closed during the year) in which free institutional treatment is provided. A general practitioner and consultant service is available to those eligible under Section 14 of the Health Act, 1953. The average number of persons eligible in the Health Authority area in 1968 was 119,000 (including dependents). The general practi- tioner attention is provided by 82 district medical officers. There is no general practitioner, but there is a consultant service for those eligible under Section 15 of the Health Act, 1953. The consultant service is available only for those who can attend hospital extern departments. It does not provide for domiciliary consultations. In this respect, the British Medical Journal of 19th December 1959, in a leading article states : “The intro- duction of Domiciliary visits by consultants in Great Britain is one of the outstanding medical advantages attributable to the National Health Service, the benefits it has brought being out of all proportion to the cost1'. The Home Nursing Service has been extended during the year from 49 to 60 whole-time nurses, i.e. 53 Public Health Nurses, 6 Jubilee Nurses and 1 nun (Little Sister of the Assumption). The 45 Health Authority dispensary districts now have nursing cover. The statistics, except where otherwise stated, refer to the Dublin Health Authority area, i.e. Dublin City, Dublin County and Dun Laoghaire Borough. Poliomyelitis This year, as for the past 2 years, no notification of polio- myelitis was received. Eight notifications of Lymphocytic men-