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1923
14
It will be evident, as the reports of the centres show, that the work must have its
culmination in a reduced infantile death rate, a vast improvement in the physical condition
of the children who attend, and the removal of much hopeless ignorance of young mothers,
which ignorance has in the past been the cause of many avoidable mistakes—too often
having fatal results or producing mal-development and ill-health in the offspring.
The whole-hearted and sustained efforts of the many ladies who give so much of their
time to the betterment of conditions affecting the mother and child must be appreciated
by all.
This work of supervision, advice and guidance of the mother before the birth of her
child, and the health supervision from birth to five years of age, as carried out by the
Islington Voluntary Infant Welfare Centres, with the aim of establishing on a sound basis
the health of the coming generation, makes a very special appeal for sympathy and com
mendation from the Borough Council.
DEATHS IN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
Within the Borough.—1772 persons died in the Public Institutions located in
Islington, of whom 1,218 belonged to this Borough, the remaining 554 having come here
for treatment or relief. Of these, 382 died in the Archway House and 103 in the Royal
Northern Central Hospital.
Of the 1,218 deaths of inhabitants, 831 occurred in the Islington Infirmary, 219 in
the Islington Institution, and 132 in the Royal Northern Central Hospital. The proportion
which the 1,218 deaths in these Public Institutions bore to the Borough mortality was
31.2 per cent.
Without the Borough.—706 deaths of persons belonging to Islington were
registered as occurring in Public Institutions in districts of London outside the
Borough and in various provincial towns. They included, among others, 20 in the Northwestern
Fever Hospital, 37 in the Children's Hospital, Great Ormnnd Street. 110 in
St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 39 in the Colney Hatch Asylum, 66 in the Royal Free Hospital,
40 in the University College Hospital. 33 in the North-Eastern Fever Hospital, 24 in the
Metropolitan Hospital, and 32 in the Middlesex Hospital.
These 706 deaths represented 181 per cent, of all the deaths registered in the year.
Within and Without the Borough.—The deaths of Islingtonians numbered
1,924 and were equal to 49 3 per cent, of the total deaths registered during the year.
Fatal Accidents or Sudden Deaths outside the Borough-—
91 inhabitants died from accidental deaths, or suddenly, in places outside Islington.
During the previous year (1922) the total deaths in Local Institutions numbered 1,975,
being 1,344 inhabitants of Islington in Local Institutions, plus 631 non-inhabitants of
Islington in Local Institutions, the number in Islington Infirmary being 977, the number