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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Battersea.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report on the health
and sanitary state of the Borough for the year 1925.
The Annual Report for 1925, in accordance with the requirements
of the Order No. 648 issued by the Ministry of Health,
is in the nature of a "Survey" Report, i.e., the report should deal
every five years, not only with the health of the ISorough for the
year under review, but should be retrospective in character and
should include a survey of the progress made during the previous
five years in the public health. Although the report for 1925
follows the lines of previous Annual Reports, so far as practicable
the suggestions of the Ministry as to its compilation as a quinquennial
record of the measure of progress achieved have been
kept in view.
There is no outstanding feature to be recorded in this "survey"
report; nevertheless, the year under review has been from the
standpoint of public health a satisfactory one for the Borough.
The birth-rate (18∙5 per 1,000) for the year shows little change
as compared with the two preceding years. It is at least satisfactory
to note that the steady fall which has characterized this
feature of the vital statistics of the Borough for the past two or
three decades appears to have been arrested.
The General death-rate (10∙5 per 1,000) is the lowest recorded
in the Borough. The Infant Mortality-rate (58.0 per 1,000 births)
was also lower than in 1924, and is the lowest rate (with the
exception of 1923) yet recorded in Battersea.
There was a decline in the incidence and in the death-rate
from thp principal infectious diseases as compared with the previous
year.
The Health Services of the Council included in the Maternity
and Child Welfare Scheme have produced excellent results which
are reflected in the vital and morbid statistics for the year under
review. There has been a considerable increase in the number of
patients admitted to the Borough Maternity Hospital as compared
with previous years, and the popularity and usefulness of this
institution have increased. It is, moreover, most gratifying to
note that notwithstanding the large increase in the number of beds
occupied not a single maternal death has occurred in the Hospital
during the year. From the administrative point of view, it is also
satisfactory to record that the cost per bed has been substantially
reduced. The development of Ante-Natal Supervision referred
to in my last Annual Report has fully realised expectations during