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4
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, haverstock Hill, hampstead, N.W. 3
22nd March, 1921.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to place before you my Annual Report for the
year 1920.
The various sections, with their subject matter, are arranged in
accordance with the Memorandum of the Ministry of Health, dated
February, 1921, as far as these relate to matters appertaining to the
Borough.
On page 58 I have incorporated a Report received from Dr. A. J.
Scott Pinchin, the Tuberculosis Medical Officer, on the work of the
Municipal Tuberculosis Dispensary; and on page 85 will be found a
Report submitted by Dr. Mary Kidd, the Medical Officer in charge of
the Pre-Maternity Clinics, on the work of these Clinics during the year
under review.
The year has been one of increasing activity for the Public Health
Department; a considerable amount of additional work accruing on
account of the Housing Acts and the Maternity and Child Welfare Act.
Also, the general condition of the residents of the Borough has
changed considerably, the population being much denser than hitherto,
whilst the cost of labour and materials has added to the difficulties of
administering the Public Health and Housing Acts.
The Department is becoming more and more sectional as the
sphere of its work widens: yet the increased work cannot be limited to
one section of the Department for the work of each section is too closely
interwoven with others ever to be separated. Thus, it is impossible to
separate the question of tuberculosis or infantile mortality from that of
housing; for success in combating either depends upon due and proper
housing of the people.
Until the coming Census has been taken, the vital statistics must be
regarded as approximate only ; but certain returns are noteworthy, and
constitute records for the Borough. The death rate is the lowest ever
recorded in Hampstead; whilst the number of births is higher than
any year since 1900, when 1621 children were born in the Borough.
The most gratifying return of all, however, is that of infantile
mortality. The infantile mortality rate for 1920 is 48 per 1000 births
which is the lowest ever recorded in Hampstead, or, as far as I know, in
any other London Borough. In a Special Report in May, 1919, I