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and 116 deaths, compared with 6,661 and 84, respectively, in 1943. There were
two cases of smallpox. The cerebro-spinal fever case rate has declined from .27
in the peak year 1940 to .08 in 1944, the deaths being 151 and 43, respectively.
Diphtheria has also declined since 1941, when the case-rate was .92, to .46 in 1944;
in 1938 the case-rate was 1.88. The death-rate was .02 in 1944, compared with .04
in 1941 and .05 in 1938. Enteric fever has decreased still further during the past year.
The diarrhoea and enteritis death-rate per 1,000 live births for children under two
has dropped from 9.9 to 9.6. Mortality from this disease of infancy was gradually
falling prior to the outbreak of war, reaching the low level of 6.1 in 1940, since when
it had been increasing. Scarlet fever, which decreased in incidence from 2.00 in
1938 to .81 in 1940, when it began to increase, has now fallen from 3.80 in 1943 to
1.69 in 1944. The case-rate of measles has also decreased from 9.18 to 3.05. The
case-rate in 1942 was 8.33. The incidence of tuberculosis shows a decline since the
previous year, the pulmonary tuberculosis death-rate being .84, compared with
.88 in 1943, the notifications (all forms) being 5,729 and 5,848, respectively. There
has been no return of the threatened influenza outbreak of 1943, which gave some
anxiety in the last two months of that year; the incidence of pneumonia and
of other lung diseases, including bronchitis, is also lower, doubtless due to the mild
and dry weather experienced at the beginning and end of the year.
In view of the interest shown, both in this country and in America, in the
comparison, included in last year's report, of the rates of infantile mortality in New
York City and in London, a section has, this year, been devoted to the relative
vital statistics at all ages.
The number of new cases of venereal disease attending the clinics has declined,
but it must not be assumed that the real incidence of these diseases is diminishing
for they still are a serious menace to the public health. No fewer than 1,344 notifications
under Defence Regulation 33B were received.
The apparatus for mass miniature radiography took an X-ray picture of the
chests of 46,671 persons, and as a result 111 were referred for sanatorium treatment.
These are people with good prospects of recovery who, in the absence of this scheme,
would probably not have come under treatment until the disease was much more
advanced and the prospects of recovery more remote.
The domiciliary midwifery service maintained, in spite of difficulty and danger,
the high traditions which it already possesses.
The scheme for the evacuation of mothers for their confinements worked
smoothly, but very many preferred to stay in London.
The chemical branch had many new problems to solve and undertook research
and investigational work of a high order.
It is now possible to disclose in some detail the epic story of what occurred
in the L.C.C. hospitals during the war years. No L.C.C. hospital in London or its
vicinity escaped damage and, in all, the "incidents," to use the technical word
of understatement, numbered 660. Many hospitals became untenable and the
patients had to be transferred elsewhere. Buildings containing 5,007 beds were
destroyed and not infrequently the returns of bed states showed that in addition
6,000 to 7,000 beds were temporarily out of action. All worked with a will, despite
continued bombing, to restore any hospital buildings which could be got back into
use and at no time had urgent cases to be refused admission. No matter what
happened, staff of all grades were undaunted and showed an example of unquenchable
spirit, high morale and devotion to their task of tending the sick and injured,
the memory of which will never leave those who were responsible for ensuring that
the service did not fail. A word must also be said about the patients, whose fortitude,
and even defiance of the terror from the air, was remarkable.
Admissions to the Council's hospitals during the year numbered 215,791. At
the end of the year there were 43,150 patients under treatment (7,999 in general,
30,372 in mental and 4,779 in other special hospitals).