[Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Ely County Council.

  • Isle of Ely (England). County Council. n 78027969.
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Ely County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which seems inseparably associated with war though peace has not succeeded in removing it. As far as Britain is concerned ip the period of the war of 1914-18 a great rise in the numbers of syphilis and gonorrhoea occurred. A considerable rise has also occurred this time in the Country generally though it is not reflected in the figures given below for this County. The attendances at the V.D. clinics are however by no means the whole.story as I think it cannot be questioned that at all events some patients suffering from Gonorrhoea are now being treated by their own Doctors with the Sulphonamide drugs. In a. way this is a disadvantage as it is open to doubt whether the strict laboratory tests of cure which should be applied are in fact carried out in all cases treated by private practitioners. Also since such cases are treated outside any scheme whether under a general practitioner scheme under Circular 2226 or in the more recent efforts which attempted to ensure a more widespread availability of treatment, i.e. under Circular 2727, there is no method short of notification by which we can obtain even a reasonable estimate of their numbers. It follows therefore that though the number of cases of syphilis can be fairly well checked those for gonorrhoea are far from being accurate. (b) Notification. The question of notification of course is a very vexed one but I think that the law should be amended to com- pel cases already under treatment, whether at a clinic or privately, to continue till cured and the same law could define the approved tests of cure. Failure to attend would be immediately followed by notification to the V.D. authority’s M.O.H. (under penalty for non-notification) who would in turn notify the person concerned to attend for treatment. Failure to do so would be followed by a heavy penalty. This method of treating defaulters should not have the effect of driving persons affected to be treated by unqualified persons as this is already prohibited and if necessary the penalty for unqualified treatment could be increased by fixing for example as a minimum a prison sentence of not less than 3 months hard labour. (c) Clinics. In the matter of V.D. Clinics this County finds itself, as in many other matters, at a disadvantage geographically. As a result we have to depend as in peace-time on the clinics at King’s Lynn, Peterborough and Cambridge thus introducing the problem of travelling a distance into the one condition above all in which immediate availability and ease of access are absolutely fundamental in ensuring the continuance of the requisite treatment. There are several small towns in the County the largest having a population of 17,000, thus with this possible exception perhaps, 11