Instructions, forms, and recommendations to local authorities under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, issued by the Local Governemnt Board for Scotland.

  • Great Britain. Local Government Board for Scotland
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Instructions, forms, and recommendations to local authorities under the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1897, issued by the Local Governemnt Board for Scotland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    24/374 (page 4)
    Act, 1889, to every district in Scotland, whether it has been previously adopted or not. Following on the introduction of universal notification, additional powers and facilities are given in the succeeding clauses to Local Authorities and their officers for preventing the spread of infectious disease, as, for example, a Local Authority may, and when required by the Board shall, provide either within or without their district proper premises, with all necessary apparatus and attendance, for the removal and destruction or disinfection of infected articles; and may provide temporary shelter or house accommodation, and, if necessary, maintenance and attendants free of charge for per- sons who are prevented from returning to an infected house. By Section 49 the Local Authority are empowered to call upon persons engaged in washing or mangling clothes, on payment of a fixed sum, to furnish a list of owners of clothes, if such is desirable, with the view of preventing the spread of infectious diseases. The throwing of infectious matter into ashpits is prohibited by Section 50. Sections 51, 52, and 53 enact penalties for the letting of houses in which infected persons have been lodging. Hotel- keepers also come within the provisions of Section 51. The powers of compulsory removal to hospital are con- siderably increased in Section 54. The definition of “ infected person ” is extended to apply not only to persons without proper lodging or accommodation, but to persons so lodged that proper precautions cannot be taken for preventing the spread of disease, and also to persons lodged in a tent or van. If a Local Authority have reason to believe that, on leaving the hospital, a patient would not be provided with lodging or accommodation in which proper precautions could be taken to prevent him from spreading disease, they are empowered, if directed by the Sheriff, to impose further detention in the hospital. Additional preventive measures are provided (1) with regard to sending children to school who have been suffering from infectious disease or who reside in an infected house, and (2) with regard to persons suffering from infectious disease engaged in milking, fruit-picking, or any occupation connected with the supply of food. Hospital provision is now made compulsory if required by the Board, and the Local Authority, with the consent of the Board, may also, or in place of providing hospitals, employ trained nurses to attend in their own houses and supply medicines for persons suffering from infectious disease.