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4
Tuberculosis
The number of new notifications again decreased, though this
year slightly compared with the major drop of the previous year. The
total was 134 giving a notification rate of 61 per 100,000 population,
a low record. The death rate from pulmonary tuberculosis remained
at the same low figure of 5 per 100,000 population, compared with 7
for the County of London as a whole.
Clean air
Considerable progress was made in the establishment of smoke
control areas whether through survey or by the making of Orders or in
the administrative and technical work necessary for the payment of grant.
More details are given in section B of the report, together with a reference
to the proposed telescoping of the smoke control programme.
It is now hoped that it may be possible to make the last Order affecting
the borough in 1965 instead of in 1968 as previously programmed.
Old people
Three additional clubs applied for grant aid and altogether 17
clubs or organisations were in receipt of grants from the Council.
Details are shown in the body of the report. The grant is reviewed
each year and perhaps the chief factor in an upward revision is an
indication (by the atmosphere of the club and particularly by the
expansion of numbers and existing facilities and by the institution of
new facilities) that the club is increasing its activities or comfort for
its members. The number of old people on the club registers of the
grant-aided clubs was much the same as during the previous year and
although new clubs get started and build up a reasonably good membership
other clubs tend to lose their membership and even upon occasion
a club ceases to exist. This is disappointing and even a little surprising
in a residential area such as this where the estimated number of old
people goes up substantially year by year. The lack of men members
is an obvious feature of some of the clubs. That there should be less men
members is understandable since there are many less men of retirement
age than there are women, but the low proportion of male members is
altogether beyond this and it seems that some new approach is necessary
to get men interested in club life at (or preferably in a mild way even
before) retirement. The special King Edward Hospital Fund committee
mentioned in my last report continued during the year, but it
will not be until the end of 1961 that the detailed survey of a considerable
portion of the borough will be available.
Home Safety
The Public Health committee have regular reports on home
safety matters, and the quarterly home safety bulletin which is got out
by the department continues to be issued. The ability of London boroughs
to do some home safety work has now been increased (in 1961)
by the Home Safety Act 1961 so that all parts of the country have been
given the specific power to contribute to voluntary organisations doing
home safety work in their areas.