London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Lewisham 1947
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
This page requires JavaScript
7
in early August. Altogether 72 cases of poliomyelitis and polioencephalitis
were confirmed, although about double this number were removed
to hospital as suspected, the others subsequently being found not to be
cases. Various measures were taken to acquaint the public with
advice as to precautions which might be observed, but this is a disease
which has so far baffled scientific enquiry and it is doubtful if any
precautions, other than those general precautions common to other
cases of droplet or faecal infection, are of value.
Retrospect and prospect
The report for 1947 has its sad side as far as the Borough Council is
concerned and this is because it is the last full year for which the Borough
Council will be responsible for the personal health services. Under the
National Health Service Act these services were transferred to the
London County Council on 5 July 1948. Health statistics go back in
For convenience they are set out in the following table:—
| Rate | 1901 | Highest rate since | Lowest rate since | 1947 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth rate | 25.9 | 26.2(1902) | 12.1(1933) | 21.9 |
| Death rate | 13.0 | 15.7(1940) | 9.6(1910) | 11.9 |
| Infant mortality rate | 128 | 122(1904) | 33(1946) | 33 |
| Maternal mortality rate | 3.9 | 5.2(1929) | 0.95(1930) | 1.0 |
| Tuberculosis death rate | 0.93 | 1.05(1902) | 0.53(1946) | 0.55 |
It is just 100 years since the first Medical Officer of Health was
appointed in England — Dr. Duncan of Liverpool. It is approximately
true to say that public health as such only started at that time, although
some efforts had been made to deal with environmental health conditions
for many years before that. After 1847 the growth of public health was
very slow, and it was not until the last decades of the last century that
anything in the nature of a spurt was made. As with other subjects,
there seems to be little progress during normal quiet times, and it
needs a specific stimulus to advance public opinion to the stage where
rapid progress can be made. Such a stimulus was apparent at different
times in the last century from serious outbreaks of infectious disease,
and I need only mention the heavy mortality from smallpox, and the
large, though localised, outbreaks of cholera which occurred in England