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INTRODUCTION
this report, which records the activities of the Department for the year 1952, comes at
the end of four and a-half years' experience of the working of the National Health
Service. In accordance with the request of the Ministry of Health a special survey of this
Service was carried out and the findings are included in the report. General comments
on administration, co-ordination and co-operation with other services and the use of
voluntary organisations are given on page 35 while comments on the individual services
are included in the appropriate sections.
The other outstanding event of the year was the enormous mortality associated with
the fog period of December which in a space of a week contributed an extra 0.5 per
thousand population to the year's total death-rate. A detailed statistical account of this
catastrophe is given in Appendix A, page 151. But for this sudden increase in the number
of deaths in December the total rate would have been back to approximately the 1950
level of 11.3 per thousand compared with 12.6 in 1951 and 12.0 in 1952 (page 8).
The year 1952 was also the first year of the tripartite arrangement in Division 9
whereby the divisional medical officer is also medical officer of health for the two
metropolitan boroughs constituting the Division. This interesting experiment in the
co-ordination of the personal and environmental health services will be closely watched ;
already after but one year's experience it appears very promising.
The birth-rate (15.3 per thousand population) was slightly lower than in the previous
year (15.6) (page 6).
The death-rate from cancer, which is at 2.30 the second leading cause of death in
London (diseases of the heart being the first), continues to show a slight increase (page 9).
Infant mortality was again lower at 23.1 per thousand live births (25.4 in 1951).
The neo-natal rate (deaths in the first four weeks of life) dropped to 15.8 per thousand
live births, a new low record for London (page 12).
The number of confirmed notifications of poliomyelitis, 309, which was higher
than in 1951 (112) was considerably lower than for the epidemic years of 1947, 1949 and
1950 (page 20). An analysis of the 1949 epidemic in its relationship to previous
inoculation is given in Appendix B, page 163.
The Council's first comprehensive health centre, at Woodberry Down, was
completed in September, and the ceremonial opening was performed on 14th October.
A summary of the accommodation provided will be found on page 48. The centre has
attracted many visitors ever since its opening, over 600 visiting before the end of 1952.
The number of pregnant women making at least one attendance at a Council antenatal
clinic continues to decline (page 50). It is believed that the other women receive
advice either from their family doctor or from the hospital which they propose to enter
for the confinement. The percentage of children attending a Council child welfare
centre at least once in the first year of life remains fairly constant, more than eight out
of every ten attended last year (page 52).
The demand on the services of the District Nursing Associations, who carry out
home nursing on behalf of the Council, continues to increase, over 1,600,000 visits being
paid last year—an average of fourteen visits daily for each nurse (page 73). The demand
on the Domestic Help Service continues to grow, nearly 28,000 cases being assisted last
year.
A regrettable feature in the Council's campaign for immunisation against diphtheria
is the continued drop in the estimated percentage of children under five years of age
who have been immunised. It is now only 50.2 per cent. Efforts are being made to
increase this percentage (page 80).
During the year the Department was co-operating in five research projects, and
details of them are given on page 136.