Britain's Health Services
1942-10 1942 1940s 40 pages Occupational Risks of Coal Miners It is important to notice two principal demands of the miners: (a) the necessity of reducing the death and accident rate in the mines; and (b) the need for remedial measures and preventive safeguards against silicosis mentioned in the Min...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : Communist Party of Great Britain
October 1942
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/9B8F9D2D-F1EA-4B55-AFCA-E2CBF5349121 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/DC821759-4BB1-4ACB-9D26-9DCEFA179479 |
| Summary: | 1942-10
1942
1940s
40 pages
Occupational Risks of Coal Miners It is important to notice two principal demands of the miners: (a) the necessity of reducing the death and accident rate in the mines; and (b) the need for remedial measures and preventive safeguards against silicosis mentioned in the Mineworkers Federation Executive report. Industrial Medicine Some difficulties have already been discussed, but the bare facts that there are only 300 inspectors for 250,000 factories (The Lancet 18.7.42, page 76) and that factory medical officers are not concerned with hygiene or treatment of ill-health, demonstrates what a large field of health activity in industry is still uncovered. Besides the measures already mentioned which can be introduced by Joint Production Committees, it is necessary to divert more doctors into industrial medicine and to reserve those already working there. In so far as there are not enough doctors and nurses to cover all services, nurses and even specially trained workers could carry out certain routine inspections for the purpose of detecting what might be early stages of industrial disease, e.g. skin inspections for industrial dermatitis in filling factories. Convalescent home accommodation should be reserved for run-down workers who should not have to wait until they are really ill before receiving restorative treatment. Fractures and Accidents The correct treatment of fractures by orthopaedic surgeons in fracture clinics equipped with rehabilitation facilities can effect enormous saving in periods of disability, amounting to as much as six months per patient in some cases. The Ministry of Health has interested itself in the provision of such units, but there are yet far from enough, and according to modern standards many patients are still inadequately treated. Nutrition Much greater use could be made of dietitians to control the food supplied in works' canteens and in communal restaurants, and in the education of workers and their wives in the choice of foodstuffs necessary for health. Special feeding is necessary for 17
15X/2/103/252 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |