View report page

3
His Worship the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year 1948.
During the year there have been many changes in the structure of the Health Services. The introduction of the
National Health Service has radically altered the administration of the curative services and transferred the personal
health services to the County Council.
When the Public Health Act of 1848 was being passed, Macaulay had published in that year his " History of
England." His confidence in the future was such that he wrote " It may well be in the twentieth century ....
that sanitary police and medical discoveries may have added several more years to the average length of human life."
Macaulay was proved correct in his prophecy, but at the time of writing there does not appear to be an equivalent
contemporary historian willing to write in similar terms concerning our future.
Many of the troubles which have followed the introduction of the National Health Service, and which have been
widely publicised, are of a temporary nature and will disappear when supply and demand become adjusted. On the
other hand, problems relating to staff and to new building are not to be easy to solve. In our health publicity we
would do well to emphasise that the health services are worth paying for and that improvement and expansion cost
money.
Readers of the statistical tables will note that both the birth and death rates have been reduced. The reduction
in the birth rate was expected as the immediate post-war higher birth rate was bound to fall. The marriage rate has
also been reduced. It is gratifying, however, to be able to record once again that the infant death rate is the lowest
yet recorded in Paddington.
Although tuberculosis remains a great medical and social problem, it will be noted that the death rate has fallen
almost to the 1938 level. The figures for the distribution of notified cases show a large increase in Hyde Park Ward,
from 26 to 39. Although we have no ward population figures to guide us we think that there may be an increase in the
population in the ward due to the increase of multi-occupation of premises, and probably also to an increase in the
number of persons living in boarding houses in the area. An analysis of these cases shows that the increase has not
occurred in Council requisitioned premises.
Parents have come to accept diphtheria immunisation as an accepted item of routine in the care of their children i
as a result diphtheria is no longer the most dangerous infectious disease in children. Only ten cases were notified
during the year but after correction only three were proved to be suffering from diphtheria. This is in striking contrast
to the incidence of the disease in the past, e.g. in 1928 there were 302 cases and in 1938, 229. The infectious diseases
which proved most troublesome to children during the year were measles and whooping cough. Although deaths
were few, many children develop troublesome complications which may cause ill-health in later life.
The figures relating to environmental hygiene show signs that the war-time arrears of work are being overtaken,
but the work of the sanitary inspectors remained heavy. In view of the smaller number of complaints received it was
possible to pay greater attention to basements, and a survey of these premises, similar to the pre-war surveys, has been
commenced. Another aspect of this work to which we were able to devote greater attention was the method of
completing comprehensive repairs to premises which is possible under Section 9 of the Housing Act. This type of work
is especially useful where there is danger of a general deterioration of property. It is work which benefits both tenant
and owner, but during the year instances were met with of persons, owners of property in a small way, who found it
exceedingly difficult to carry out the work owing to the high cost of repairs. It has been the experience of this
department that the present cost of repairs bears little relationship to the value of many of the premises, or to the
income from rent. In certain cases it is possible for the Council to carry out repair work and recover the cost from the
rent.
The supervision of food premises and food inspection work is carried out by this department in close collaboration
with the local food office. The work of the food inspectors has resulted in considerable improvements to various food
premises during the year. In particular, extensive alterations to ice-cream factories have been carried out.