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 1957
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Lewisham Borough]
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Fifteen infants (8 males and 7 females) thus died between the ages of
one month and one year compared with nine in the previous year and
nineteen the year before that. Eight of the fifteen were from congenital
malformations, two from bronchitis, one each from three other causes and
two were undefined. On the other hand there was a decrease of fourteen
in the number of deaths under 4 weeks of age, spread over many groups.
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 4
Morbidity shown in insurance certificates
| Average for period ending | " Lewisham " | "Downham" |
|---|---|---|
| January 29 | 570 | 146 |
| February 26 | 538 | 130 |
| March 26 | 606 | 145 |
| April 23 | 384 | 101 |
| May 21 | 417 | 108 |
| June 18 | 355 | 82 |
| July 16 | 310 | 92 |
| August 13 | 302 | 70 |
| September 10 | 350 | 95 |
| October 8 | 987 | 257 |
| November 5 | 1528 | 375 |
| December 3 | 702 | 165 |
| December 31 | 779 | 190 |
| Average for period 4 April to 4 December 1957 | 405 | 106 |
| Weekly average for the year 1957 | 602 | 150 |
| „ „ 1956 | 469 | 124 |
| „ „ 1955 | 480 | 129 |
| „ „ 1954 | 424 | 115 |
| „ „ 1953 | 471 | 133 |
The chart on the next page shows the weekly applications for
sickness benefit in 1957 for the "Lewisham" and "Downham" areas,
and compares these with the maximum and the minimum for any week
during the seven year period 1951-7. It will be seen that 1957 was a
year well above the average for sickness. This was in the main due to the
epidemic of heavy colds and/or Asian influenza in the autumn.