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Old Town Hall,
Fulham Broadway,
S.W.6.
Tel. No. 01-385 1212
The Mayor, Alderman and Councillors of the
London Borough of Hammersmith
Mr Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH, ANNUAL
REPORT 1972
INTRODUCTORY LETTER
I have the honour to present the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health and Director of Health
Services of the London Borough of Hammersmith for the year 1972.
INTRODUCTION
This Report deals with the Environmental and Personal Health Services provided by the Council. In
addition, and with the agreement of the Inner London Education Authority, a report on the School Health
Service in the Borough during 1972, which has been submitted to the Education Authority by your Medical
Officer of Health in his capacity as Principal School Medical Officer, is included. Fundamentally, the Report
is concerned with the health of the residents of the Borough and the measures adopted to preserve the health of
all age groups to the greatest possible extent.
VITAL STATISTICS
With a reduction of almost three thousand, the Registrar General's estimate of the population of
Hammersmith as at mid-1972 continues the downward trend noted in recent years, not only in Hammersmith
but in the Inner London Boroughs generally. The birth rate, after adjustment for the age and sex of the
population, was 11.5 per 1000 of the population, and showed a reduction from the 1971 figure which was 13.9.
Over the country as a whole the birth rate also fell from 16.0 per 1000 of the population in 1971 to 14.8 in 1972.
The continiung need for the highest possible standard of maternal and child health care, whether provided
in the home, the local authority clinic, the doctor's surgery, or the hospital, which was referred to in the
Annual Report for 1971, was again evident in 1972. At 20 per 1000 live births the infant mortality rate remains
too high, especially against a falling birth rate, and compares unfavourably with the national figure of 17. The
infant mortality rate in Hammersmith in 1967 was 16.3 per 1000 live births at a time when the national figure
was 18. Although the neonatal mortality rate at 15 per 1000 live births and the early neonatal mortality rate at
12 per 1000 total live births were both slightly reduced in 1972 as compared with 1971, the perinatal mortality
rate, indicating the still-births and deaths under one week combined per 1000 total live and still-births,
remained constant owing to a small increase in the still-birth rate. Although the actual number of illegitimate
births fell during 1972 to 489 from 558 in 1971, the overall percentage of illegitimate births remained at 19 as
against 9 for the country as a whole.
The adjusted general death rate in Hammersmith in 1972 was 12.7 per 1000 of the population as compared
with 14 in 1971, and was in line with the figure for England and Wales which was 12.1
Bronchial carcinoma accounted for the death of some 188 persons in Hammersmith during 1972. This
figure, as well as a substantial proportion of the deaths from ischaemic heart disease, would be reduced if
appropriate preventive measures were adopted. Although the role of smoking in relation to mortality under
these heads in generally accepted, the consequential individual action which is so clearly called for is
regrettably exceedingly slow in forthcoming. Some progress is, however, being made and may well gain
momentum over the next decade.
INFECTIOUS DISEASE
The infectious disease record in Hammersmith during 1972 was a generally good one, with a complete
absence of conditions such as diphtheria and poliomyelitis and with a reduction in the number of cases of
dysentry and food poisoning which were reported. The gradual reduction in the incidence of measles since the
introduction in Hammersmith in 1968 of immunisation against this disease is particularly encouraging, with
the number of reported cases falling in 1972 to 214, an all-time low. The value of immunisation against
diptheria, poliomyelitis, whooping cough and now measles, has been clearly demonstrated. It is, however,
dependent on the percentage of the number of children who have been adequately immunised at any particular
point in time, and here the co-operation of parents is essential. On our side, and in co-operation with the
Borough Treasurer and Director of Financial Services, and in association with the general practitioners in the
Borough, the services of the computer have been enlisted to ensure the up-to-date recording of immunisations
given and to facilitate appointment making in doctors' surgeries and in clinics for children when these
injections are due.
Three of the four cases of typhoid which were reported during 1972 were infected overseas.
The surveillance for 14 days of persons coming to Hammersmith from abroad from smallpox endemic or
locally inlected areas was carried out in relation to some 39 persons during the year.
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