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PREFACE.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea.
Madam Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the Annual Report on the health '
the Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea for 1929.
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 62,680 a figure
which is below that for last year. The birth rate (11*7) is lower than
that for last year (12-6). The marriage rate (11'01) is higher than
that for last year (10-5). The death rate (15-7) is higher than that
for London generally (13-8) and compares with 13-5 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 Boroughand
that one-half of all deaths in Chelsea occur in persons over 65 year
of age. The infant mortality rate was 70 as compared with 48 last
year. In London generally, the infant mortality rate was also high
In Chelsea, as elsewhere, the increased mortality was due in part to
greater incidence of whooping cough, enteritis and pneumonia and also
to the reduced number of births.
The total incidence of notifiable infectious disease was increase
last year, mainly owing to an incre'ased number, of cases of pneumonia
and scarlet-fever. The number of cases of diphtheria and'erysipelas
remained about the same. At the end of the year there were 283 cases
of pulmonary tuberculosis and 59 cases of non-pulmonary tuberculosis
known to be living in the Borough—a total lower than that for last
year. These figures indicate that the general improvement in the
public health of the Borough continues to be maintained.
Maternity and Child Welfare work has continued to grow in extent
and in usefulness during the year. The attendances at the
centres were 6,609, and 7,560 visits to homes of patients were re-corded
I continue to receive must valuable assistance from the Chelsea Health
Society, and cannot speak too highly of the efficiency of the Society's
work. "