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REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE CITY OF LONDON FOR THE YEAR 1953.
To the Right Honourable The Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commoners of the Corporation of London.
55/61, Moorgate,
London, E.C. 2.
July, 1954.
My Lord Mayor and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit the following report on the work of my Department during the
year 1953.
Vital Statistics.
The resident population of the City continues to decline. At the census of 1951 it was
5,268 having fallen from 10,999 at the 1931 census. The population at mid-year 1953, as
estimated by the Registrar General, was 5,090. The birth rate was 5.42 per 1,000 and the death
rate 10.56 per 1,000. The infant mortality rate was 32.19 per 1,000 live births. As I have
observed year by year the vital statistics of the City cannot be usefully compared either with
those of other areas or even with those of previous years because the numbers on which the rates
are calculated are so small.
Infectious Diseases.
The number of notifications of Tuberculosis rose from 11 to 29, but deaths were one fewer,
being 4 as compared with 5 in 1952. Twelve of the notifications were from the Salvation
Army Shelter in Middlesex Street, all relating to casual workers who do not report to a doctor
until they are so ill that they must be admitted to hospital and who will not submit themselves
for routine examination at the mass radiography centre, believing as they do that the only
result of such examination will be a restriction of their personal freedom.
There were 9 notifications of puerperal pyrexia all from St. Bartholomew's Hospital; but
since under the Puerperal Pyrexia Regulations, 1951. "any febrile condition occurring in a
woman in whom a temperature of 100.4°F. or more has occurred within fourteen days after
childbirth or miscarriage" must be notified as puerperal pyrexia, nine such notifications from
amongst the 604 cases of childbirth in St. Bartholomew's Hospital, giving a rate of 14.9
per 1,000, with no deaths, is indicative of the high standard of midwifery one would expect.
The Public Health (Infectious Disease) Regulations, 1953, came into force on 1st April.
They amplify the precautionary measures against food poisoning by providing that a local
authority may, by notice in writing, require any person to discontinue or refrain from engaging
in any occupation connected with the preparation and handling of food or drink for human
consumption, if such person is suffering from, or a carrier of the organisms of, typhoid fever,
paratyphoid fever, dysentery or food poisoning.
The local authority may also, by notice in writing, require the measures necessary to prevent
the spread of infection to be taken.
Delay in the issue of such notices may be dangerous and therefore the regulations state
that a local authority may authorise the Medical Officer of Health generally to issue notices on
their behalf, if it is in his judgment necessary for him to do so for the purpose of preventing
the spread of infection.
The Corporation of the City of London have by resolution authorised their Medical Officer
to take such action on their behalf where necessary.
It has not been necessary to issue any written notices, though in a number of cases Medical
Officers of Health of other districts have notified me of persons engaged in handling food in
the City who are contacts with cases of Sonne dysentery at home. It has always been possible
with the co-operation of employers, to arrange for such persons to discontinue the handling
of food or drink until it has been ascertained that they are neither infected nor carriers of
infection.
Mass Miniature Radiography.
A Mass Radiography Unit of the North East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board continued
to operate during the year from your premises at 20, Golden Lane.
The circulation of all firms and private residents in the City, advising them of the facilities
for examination, was completed during the year. A total of 14,686 circular letters were
despatched. Two thousand three hundred and sixty firms arranged for their staffs to be X-raved
1,622 of which were small firms sending 10 or fewer persons for examination.
The total number of examinees from all firms was 56,642 comprising 34,135 men and 22 507
women. The number of persons making individual requests for examination was 363.
The Unit is also available to the Boroughs of Finsbury, Stepney and Shoreditch, and since
it commenced to operate from 20, Golden Lane, on 1st November, 1950, 147,000 persons
have been X-rayed, which fully justifies the decision of the Corporation to provide a base for
the Unit within the City.
The annual report of the Medical Director of the Unit is not yet available, so I am unable
to report the results of the examinations carried out during 1953