View report page

Town Hall,
Kensington, W.8.
25th November, 1940.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Royal Borough of Kensington.
I have the honour to submit my annual report for 1939
on the state of the public health in Kensington.
In accordance with the wishes of the Minister of Health,
this report has been considerably curtailed.
The year 1939 was one in which civil defence measures
assumed priority over other work, and to a large extent interfered
with the normal work of the public health department.
At the beginning of the war. eight full-size first aid
posts and one small pose were established, these were all equipped
with gas cleansing stations and staffed by fully-trained A.R.P.
workers. A medical service, composed of doctors practising in the
borough, was formed in connection with the first aid posts.
Stretcher bearers totalling 500 men were billeted in two depots in
the borough, and a service of cars was provided for the purpose of
transport. The public health department assisted in the early
days of the war in the evacuation of expectant mothers and children
under five years of age.
When war was declared, a skeleton maternity and child
welfare service was established, but owing to the absence of
expected air raids and the consequent gradual return of a large
number of women and children to the borough, this service was
augmented from time to time. An interesting development of this
work was the opening of infant welfare centres at first aid posts,
and valuable assistance was rendered by A.R.P. workers at the
maternity and child welfare sessiona.
Dr. Charles Hay, the deputy medical officer of health, was
called up for active service at the end of August. Dr. Prank
Stansfield was appointed as officer commanding stretcher bearers
in October, 1939.
VITAL STATISTICS.
Population.
The population of the borough as ascertained at the census
of 1931 was 180,677 persons, but for the purpose of this report the
population for 1939 has been given by the Registrar-General as
172,100 for estimating the birth rate, and 158,800 for the death
rate. The latter figure is approximately the population ascertained
by national registration at the commencement of the war.
Births, Deaths, and Infant Mortality.
The birth rate was 12.0 per 1,000 population.
The death rate, baaed on the number of deaths of
Kensington people, was 13 0 0 per 1,000 population; but when the
adjusting factor, based on the age and sex distribution of the
population, is applied, the death rate for the borough becomes
12.2, which is the figure used for comparison with other districts.
JAMES FENTON,
Medical Officer of Healthy