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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present to you the 99th Annual Report
on the health of the Borough. Dr. A. G. G. Thompson Medical Officer
of Health since 1927 retired on 22nd September and for the
remainder of the period under review the department was under
the supervision of Dr. W. Stott, Medical Officer of Health of
Southwark.
For this reason the contents of the report are mainly
statistical, dealing with the work over a period of which I have
no first hand knowledge.
The health of the Borough has remained good. The population
as estimated by the Registrar General has decreased by 2,000
during the year. The birth rate is fractionally less than in
1954 whereas the death rate is slightly higher, both figures
being less than for London and England and wales. Infant
mortality which is often regarded as an index of the social and
environmental conditions of a community is lower than last year
and is also below that for London and the country as a whole.
The care and welfare of the aged are matters which continue
to engage the attention of the Public Health Department and
will continue to do so for years to come. The officers have
maintained close contact with all the agencies, both statutory
and voluntary which can assist in alleviating and brightening
the lot of those in the eventide of their lives.
In the body of the report will be found a brief account of
the activities of the Lambeth Old Peoples Welfare Association
an organisation in which the Council is actively interested and
to which it gives financial support. Finally, I must refer to
the council's Scheme for Holidays for the Elderly which has
given so much pleasure to those able to participate in it.
At the end of the year the inspectorial staff was two short
of the establishment of nineteen. Replacement is difficult as
the number of students presenting themselves for training as
Sanitary Inspectors in the country as a whole falls short of
requirements. Theclerical staff was also two below establishment
In conclusion, although I was not your Medical Officer during
1955, which is the period covered by the report, I would like
to express my thanks to the Council and especially the Public
Health Committee for the welcome they have accorded me.