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7
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, Croydon,
6th July, IQ22.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the County Borough of Croydon.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to submit my Annual Report for 1921. The report differs in
its arrangement to some extent from those which have recently been
presented to the Council in that the requirements of the Ministry of
Health have been altered. The Ministry by Circular 269, dated 28th
December, 1921, have required that annual reports on public health
matters shall consist of what are called "ordinary" reports for four
years, and every fifth year of a "survey" report. The ordinary
reports are to be of a less extensive character. The quinquennial survey
reports are to be of the nature of a public health review of the preceding
five years. In this way a more thorough picture of the progress of
public health work and of health conditions will be presented. The
first survey report will be due in 1925.
The year 1921 has provided two new records in the borough, viz. :
the lowest death rate—10.7—and the highest number of cases of scarlet
fever and diphtheria recorded in any one year, viz. : 1,338.
The pressure upon the accommodation in the Borough Isolation
Hospital has been very heavy, necessitating much overcrowding in the
wards, and in the latter end of the year making it impossible to remove
all the cases of notifiable infectious disease which should have been
removed from their homes. The Public Health Committee have had
under consideration the extension of the Borough Hospital, and in the
interests of the public health of the town this is a need which must be
met at a very early date.
I would also urge once more the great inadequacy of the sick
nursery at 228, London Road, both as regards the nature of the accommodation
and the number of cots for ailing infants, an inadequacy which
seriously hampers the infant welfare work of the Borough.
The post-war accumulation of defective housing continues to make
heavy inroads upon the time of the sanitary inspectors, and there is no
doubt but that the staff must be increased to enable this work to be done
efficiently. It should be noted that no addition has been made to the
staff of inspectors since 1904, during which time the population of the
Borough has increased by 50,000.
No new developments of public health work fall to be recorded now.
I respectfully urge upon the Council, however, the needs expressed in
the preceding paragraphs as soon as financial circumstances permit of
their being attained.
I am, Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
R. VEITCH CLARK,
Medical Officer of Health.