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

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Ilford 1953

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Ilford]

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49
Illegitimate Births and Deaths.—67 of the live births registered
(34 males and 33 females) were illegitimate, that is 3 per cent of the births
registered.
Two illegitimate children (1 male and 1 female) died under one year
of age.

The following table shows the birth and death rates of legitimate and illegitimate infants for the past ten years:—

YearLegitimate InfantsIllegitimate Infants
Live BirthsPercentage of Registered BirthsDeathsRate per 1,000 Legitimate Live BirthsLive BirthsPercentage of Registered BirthsDeathsRate per 1,000 Illegitimate Live Births
19532,16497.04319.9573.0229.9
19522,23290.14419.7913.9
19512,30097.14921.2702.9114.3
19502,33290.94117.0743.1454.0
19492,56797.05119.9632.4231.7
19482,75796.85821.0913.2443.9
19473,25896.77823.91103.3436.4
19403,33690.99729.11073.1546.7
19452,34394.57331.21365.5858.8
19442,05595.89535.71164.2760.3

The Chelmsford Diocesan Moral Welfare Association continued in
1953 to undertake the care of the unmarried mother and her child on
behalf of the County Council and there has been direct co-operation
through their Moral Welfare Worker for this district. In addition, all
cases are followed up by the Health Visitors.
Health Visitors and School Nurses.—The shortage of health
visiting staff continued and Clinic Nurses continued to be employed to
relieve the Health Visitors of certain duties.
The Essex County Council's Training Scheme for Health Visitors, in
conjunction with the S.E. Essex Technical College, has continued and
one trainee was allocated to Ilford for practical instruction during 1953.
At the end of the year there were 7 full-time and 2 part-time qualified
Health Visitors, and School Nurses in addition to the Superintendent
Health Visitor, and 5 Clinic Nurses. This shows a decrease from the
beginning of the year and the health visiting staff is well below the approved
establishment of 18.
The following is a summary of the home visits made by the Health
Visitors and Clinic Nurses during 1953 as far as the Maternity and Child
Welfare work is concerned: —
First visits to newly-born infants ... ... 2,215
Subsequent visits to children under I year of age . . 7,189
Subsequent visits to children over I year of age and under 5 16,377
Visits to expectant mothers ... ... 352
Home visits for other reasons ... 4,532
Total visits paid 30,665