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

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Bermondsey 1960

Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year 1960

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PUBLIC HEALTH (LONDON) ACT 1936, SECTION 122
The Council are authorised to remove and cleanse personal
effects where the Medical Officer considers that the condition of
such articles is likely to cause the spread of infectious disease.
During the year, the Medical Officer visited the homes of 41
old people who were seriously ill or senile. Quantities of soiled
bedding and personal clothing were found in each case and it was
necessary for these articles to be regularly collected for cleansing
in the Disinfecting Station and returned to the owners.
REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF THE SURVEY OF
OLD PEOPLE
During 1960 details required by the survey have been obtained
from 1,374 elderly people, which again shows an increase over
those for the previous year (1,014 in 1959) and brings the total number
of cases registered during the four years of the survey to 4,095
as follows:-

Table 1—Age and sex distribution

AgeLivingDeceased
(or age at death)MaleFemaleMaleFemale
50—60277037
61—655825399
66—702195202529
71—753006214366
76—802595446277
81—9016941180125
91 plus1227419
Totals:1,0442,446226332

Total (all columns) 4,048
Plus cases moved away or
entered homes 47
4,095
of the 558 deaths, 386 occurred in hospital.
The figures, in the main, seem to be following the previous
pattern, although the proportion of men to women shows a slight
increase. The Public Health Assistants are experiencing some
difficulty in finding the occupiers at home at numerous addresses
and have to rely on information from neighbours, which sometimes
inadvertently proves to be false, as there are still many elderly
persons living in houses and flats whose existence is unknown to