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Still-births.—42 still-born children were notified during the year,
20 of this number being born to non-residents of Westminster. The
corresponding figure for 1927 was 36. Under the Births and Deaths
Registration Act, 1926 which came into force on 1st July, 1927, all stillbirths
must be registered.
The Ministry of Health is desirous that certain figures supplied by the
Registrar-General, and statistics based thereon, should, for the purpose
of comparison, be included in this Report. In making these comparisons
one thing must not be forgotten—the difference between notified cases of
infectious disease as supplied by the Registrar-General, and upon which
figures are based not only the case rates, etc., for Westminster, but for
London and the County as a whole ; and the return of cases of infectious
diseases as compiled by the Medical Officer of Health. As statistics must,
to a certain degree, portray the health of a community, every effort is
made in Westminster to confine figures to cases in which the diagnosis
has been confirmed. During 1928, 26 cases, or roughly 6-4 per cent, of
the diphtheria and scarlet fever cases, were discharged from hospitals as
not suffering from these diseases—these figures are not supplied to the
Registrar-General. Another important factor is the number of infectious
disease cases for which certificates are not submitted, and therefore
cannot be forwarded to the Metropolitan Asylums Board, from which
source the Registrar-General obtains his figures. Obviously the totals
of cases and case rates must be seriously affected if the same conditions
prevail among other Metropolitan Boroughs and the various Councils
throughout the country.