[Report 1920] / Medical Officer of Health, Staffordshire County Council.

  • Staffordshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1920] / Medical Officer of Health, Staffordshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/46 (page 23)
    As regards ophthalmia cases, the following figures indicate the degree of severity of the cases reported during the past four years, all of which were enquired into by the midwife inspectors Enquiries. Slight cases. Severe cases. 1917-18 1918-19 1919-20 1920 1917-18 1918-19 1919-20 1920 1917-18 1918-19 1919-20 1920 Southern district 42 22 22 23 25 11 12 14 17 11 10 9 Northern district 27 20 34 45 14 10 24 32 13 10 10 13 Central district • • 14 29 30 • • 9 24 23 • • 5 5 7 Totals .. 69 56 85 98 39 30 60 69 30 26 25 29 Apart from initial enquiries, special visits are paid in order to ascertain the conditions as regards the sight of each infant on the termination of the treatment. As regards the slight cases this year, complete recovery took place in every case. Of the 29 severe cases, 16 recovered without damage to sight, six died from other causes, while of the remaining seven cases five only suffered slight damage while two lost the sight of both eyes. With reference to the total cases, irrespective of severity, a clear history of venereal disease was established in 15 cases. 4 As regards the serious cases among the survivors during the past four years, 95 in number, only four suffered perma¬ nent damage, one having lost the sight of one eye and the remaining three of both eyes. In addition to the routine enquiries, 25 reported irregu¬ larities were specially investigated. Of these, eight were dealt with by letters of caution from the County Medical Officer of Health ; two midwives were censured by the Local Supervising Authority ; one midwife was reported to the Central Midwives ’ Board; five midwives voluntarily surrendered their certificates ; and in nine cases circumstances did not warrant any action being taken. As regards the midwife reported to the Centred Midwives ’ Board, her name was removed from the Roll and her certificate cancelled. Since the Act came into operation, the names of 104 midwives have been removed from the Roll as the result of action taken by the Local Supervising Authority.