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Telephones:-
TIDeway 1288
„ 1360
Public Health Department,
Deptford Town Hall,
S.E.14.
June, 1959.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Deptford.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have much pleasure in presenting the Annual Report on the health and
environmental circumstances of Deptford for 1958.
In general the health of the Borough continued to be satisfactory although
the infantile mortality rate has risen drastically from 12.3 P er 1,000 live births,
which was an all time low figure for Deptford, to 28.5. However, as I mentioned
in last year's report no definite conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of
figures for one year, the trend has to be observed for a period, perhaps not less
than five years. The death rate is down and the birth rate at 16.47 is substantially
higher than last year.
In analysing the causes of death, once again cancer of the lung and other
malignant conditions are high on the list and coronary artery disease and circulatory
affections continue to rise. On the other hand deaths from bronchitis are down
probably due to the absence of any serious influenza outbreak during the winter;
and although we had periods of prolonged fog, pneumonia also showed a slight reduction.
In regard to infectious diseases the Borough was free from serious outbreak
of communicable disease; there was no Poliomyelitis, Smallpox, or Diphtheria
notified to the Health Department, but Dysentery became troublesome during the
spring and early summer. This necessitated much labour in arranging for
examination of clinical specimens both from cases and carriers and organising
appropriate treatment with family doctors.
It is pleasing to note a reduction in the cases of Pulmonary Tuberculosis and
a slight decrease in deaths from this disease. These figures are a further
indication of the changing pattern of this disease in modern society. This is
occasioned by the general environmental improvements, the vigilance of chest
physicians and medical practitioners, and the effectiveness of the new drugs now
available, togaher with the use selectively and in random surveys of the Mass
Miniature Radiography Units, a report of whose work is included in the body of the
report, I am also grateful to Dr. Rigby for his contribution which is most
welcome and as always very stimulating. I am interested to note his remarks on
the relationship between a dust laden atmosphere and disorders of the lung, but I
would be loathe to say that Deptford is any smokier or dustier than any other
comparable industrial area; indeed an analysis of our figures for the last three
years indicates a progressive decrease of smoke in the atmosphere, although sulphur
dioxide appears to remain at about the same level. The reduction of smoke is
undoubtedly due to the greater use of smokeless fuels in the area and the conversion
of many industrial concerns from coal to oil consumption. Already the Clean Air
Act is making contribution to the general improvement of our atmosphere and a
reference is made in the body of the report to the making of a Smoke Control Area
in one part of the Borough. It is hoped that this will be followed by other more
extensive areas in the future.
Welfare of old people continues to exercise much of our attention. There are
approximately 10,000 people in Deptford over the age of 65, and the Council are
taking steps to appoint an officer whose primary duty will be dealing with problems
connecting with the aged, together with liaison with all the voluntary agencies
concerned with the subject.
The Bathing Station is providing a valuable laundry service for the aged and
incontinent, and a bathing service is also available. It is hoped that increasingly
close ties between the hospitals, the family doctors, the voluntary workers and the
/Health
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