London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London

Lewisham 1954

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]

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11
Local sickness
Through the courtesy of the Regional Medical Officer of the
Ministry of National Insurance, I am sent weekly a return indicating
for the various areas of London the first certificates of sickness benefit
received in the local offices. The areas served by these local offices are
in the main coterminous with postal districts of London and do not
coincide with borough boundaries. Lewisham is served by four
offices, " Lewisham," " Downham," " Eltham " and " Norwood," but
as only a very small portion of the borough comes within the purview
of the last two, it is felt that a better representation of the trend of
sickness within the borough is given by quoting only the figures for
" Lewisham " and " Downham."

Table: Table 4Morbidity shown in insurance certificates

Table 4

Morbidity shown in insurance certificates

Average for four weeks endingLewishamDownham
January 26694183
February 23635171
March 23505128
April 2035998
May 18394111
June 1535589
July 1328177
August 1027677
September 731882
October 5380119
November 2453122
November 30474131
December 28385107
Corresponding figure for
November, 1953448134
Weekly average for the year 1954424115
Weekly average for the year 1953471133

Table: Social class in relation to cause of deathOf the 2,231 deaths analysed by us the social categories were as follow' Table 5

Social class in relation to cause of death

Of the 2,231 deaths analysed by us the social categories were as follow' Table 5

Social class1IIIIIIVVTotalNo information
Males3921865816996118015
Females251995371526697957
Total644171196321162215972
Percentage31955IS8100—