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PREFACE.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the Annual Report on the health of the
Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea for 1927.
The report is an " Ordinary " report as defined in the appropriate
circular of the Ministry of Health. The Ministry's programme stipulates
that for each series of five years from 1925 onwards there shall be published
one Survey and four Ordinary reports. Ordinary reports are expected
to deal with the sanitary circumstances, the sanitary administration,
and the vital statistics relating to the District for the year under review.
Any further action of importance in the organization or development of
public health services contemplated by the Local Authority or considered
desirable by the Medical Officer of Health must also be dealt with.
The chief vital statistics relating to the year are as follows : The civil
population is estimated by the Registrar-General at 63,690, a figure
which is below that for last year. The birth rate (13-4) is approximately
the same as that for last year (13.3). The marriage rate (10.8) is higher
than that for last year (9.1). The death rate (14.1) is higher than that
for London generally (11.9) and compares with 12.5 last year. It is,
perhaps, not generally realised that nearly 9 per cent, of the Chelsea
population is made up of persons over 65 years of age —a much higher
proportion than that obtaining in any other Metropolitan Borough—
and that one-half of all deaths in Chelsea occur in persons over 65 years
of age. The infant mortality rate was 76, as compared with 64 last year.
An unusually high proportion of these infants were born in Hospitals
and Institutions and death occurred there shortly after birth.
The total incidence of notifiable infectious disease was diminished
last year. The numbers of cases of diphtheria and erysipelas were much
less, while those of pneumonia and scarlet fever remained, approximately,
the same. At the end of the year there were 315 cases of pulmonary
tuberculosis and 62 cases of non-pulmonary tuberculosis known to be
living in the Borough —a total almost identical with that for last year.
These figures indicate that the general improvement in the public health
of the Borough continues to be maintained.