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FIN 21
1
To the May or, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I herewith present to you a summarised Annual Report of the work of
the Public Health Department during the year 1940. This has been prepared
in continuation of the policy laid down by the Ministry of Health for the
Annual Report for the previous year in order to save labour and the expense
which would be involved in the publication at the present time of a full
account of the year's work. Detailed records have been compiled of each
section of the department, and these will be preserved for future reference.
During the early and middle periods of the war the work of the department
continued without serious interruption under war-time conditions and
there was no special matter to which your attention should be drawn. During
the later part of the year the intensive enemy attacks on London inevitably
caused some changes and dislocation of normal work and introduced new problems
with regard to the use of public air-raid shelters and in connection with
persons either temporarily or permanently displaced from their dwellings by
enemy action, on the other hand, the furoe r evacuation of children and
infants relieved some of the concern which would otherwise have been the
responsibility of the department.
On the whole, I am glad to be able to state that I am satisfied that
the general standard of health of the inhabitants of Finsbury remained good
throughout 1940 and that no serious outbreak of opidemic disease of any kind
occurred.
There has been a rise in the birth rate for the borough as compared
with the rate for 1939, whereas the actual number of births has decreased.
This increased rate, owing to the fact that the numbers and distribution of
the non-civilian population are not available, was based on the civilian
population of 1940 as used for the death rate, and too much significance
should not therefore be attached to it. There has also been a marked increase
in the death rate which is affected largely by deaths due to war operations.
There has been a rather considerable increase in the deaths due to tuberculosis
of the respiratory system but otherwise there has been no serious increase in
the death rate from any particular cause.
The general life of the inhabitants of the borough was changed during
the last four months of the year by reason of the heavy air raids which caused
large numbers of persons to spend evenings and nights in the public air raid
shelters. At one time the shelter population probably reached the figure of
over 10,000. These conditions introduced many attendant problems connected
with hygiene and comfort of the shelters. Further, as a result of damage
done to residential properties, to the main gas, water and electricity connections
and because of the danger from unexploded bombs, many persons were
temporarily or permanently removed from their homes or found themselves without
the normal amenities of life. The delays which necessarily followed in
the remedy of these conditions lead to the crowding of Rest Centres and introduced
further problems in public health organisation.