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Town Hall,
Kensington, W.S.
June 15th, 1923.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Royal Borough of Kensington.
Ladies and Gentlemen,—
I have the honour to submit, for your information, my Annual Report upon the state of the
Public Health in Kensington, and a record of the administrative work carried out in the Public
Health Department for the year 1922, together with the vital statistics of the Borough.
A summary of the work done and action taken under the Factory and Workshops Acts is
included.
The year under review was a satisfactory one from the Public Health standpoint.
The death rate was 13.6 per 1,000 living; this compares favourably with the average rate for
the Borough for the present century, which is 14.5.
The number of deaths of infants under the age of 12 months for every 1,000 births was 82 as
against 110 in the previous year. This, with one exception, is the lowest rate recorded in the
history of the Borough. Whilst the many steps taken by the Council and various voluntary bodies
for the prevention of infant mortality must receive some credit for this decreased rate, it is probable
that the favourable climatic conditions throughout the year generally were mainly responsible for
the great improvement.
The epidemic of scarlet fever which prevailed over a large period of the two preceding years
disappeared at the beginning of 1922, and during the year there were only 471 cases as against 870
in 1921.
Diphtheria was a little more prevalent than in the preceding year.
Ophthalmia neonatorum showed a satisfactory decrease, there being onlv 20 cases as against
33 in 1921 and 53 in 1920.
There was an outbreak of measles in the spring months, but the epidemic was not as severe as
anticipated. This disease accounted for 58 deaths.
The notifications of and deaths from tuberculosis showed, as in recent years, a steady decrease
in numbers. The rapid decline in the death rate from this disease during the last ten years is one
of the most gratifying happenings in the whole realm of Preventive Medicine.
From the administrative point of view, the most important features of the year were :—
(1) TAKING OVER BY THE COUNCIL OF THE NORTH KENSINGTON TUBERCULOSIS
DISPENSARY.
On January 1st, 1922, the Council took over from the North Kensington Voluntary Tuberculosis Dispensary
Committee all duties in regard to Dispensary treatment of tuberculosis for persons living in North Kensington*
The transfer enabled the Council to combine their work ot Prevention with that of Treatment. These two
branches of work are now carried out bv one set of officers.
(2) RE-ORGANISATION OF HEALTH VISITING
With a view to diminishing the number of officers who may visit any one home and to preventing waste of
effort and loss of time in travelling, the Borough has been divided into seven areas in each ot which one Woman
Health Officer performs all the work previously undtrtaken by Health Visitors, Lady Sanitary Inspectors and
Tuberculosis Nurses.
This re-organisation prevents overlapping in home visiting, and enables each Woman Health Officer to
become more familiar with the local conditions and to possess a wider and more varied interest in her district.
(3) SATISFACTORY PROGRESS OF THE COUNCIL'S SCHEME OF CO-ORDINATION OF
MATERNITY AND CHILD WELFARE WORK,
The scheme approved by the Council in 1920 for the co-ordination of the large amount of valuable Maternity
and Child Welfare work performed by voluntary agencies has proved very satisfactory, and there was no friction
at any point during the year.
(4) INCREASED ACTIVITY IN REGARD TO HOUSE REPAIRS.
With the decline in the cost of labour and material, the Council's Sanitary Inspectors have been able to press
more firmly for house repairs and improvements in housing conditions generally, and the effect of the activity of
the Council's staff is apparent in certain ot the poor parts of the Borough, where many houses have been
reclaimed from the almost uninhabitable condition into which they had drifted during the War period.
There is, however, still plenty of work to be done in order to make up the arrears of the War period.
The presentation of this Report affords me the opportunity of expressing my appreciation of
the sympathetic co-operation in my efforts to discharge the duties of my office which I have
received from the Mayor, the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the various Committees and all
members of the Council, and of thanking the staff of the Public Health Department for their
loyal support throughout the year.
1921 CENSUS STATISTICS.
Since the issue of my last Annual Report, the Registrar-General has published Statistics of
the Administrative County of London in respect of the population enumerated at the Census taken
on 20th June, 1921.
In order to form a sound opinion on Public Health and various other problems which will
confront the Council from time to time, it will be necessary to refer to these Statistics, and, in these
circumstances, it is desirable, for the purpose of easy reference, to submit in this report, a copy of
which is supplied to each member of the Council, some of the more important figures concerning
Kensington.