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7
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, Haverstock Hill,
Hampstead, N.W.
24th March, 1914.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Hampstead.
Mr. Mayor, Madam, and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to place before you the Medical Officer of
Health's Report for the year 1913. All the Returns required by the
Local Government Board and by the Home Office in relation to the
Factory and Workshop Act, have been incorporated therein.
A report of the Tuberculosis Medical Officer on the working of the
Municipal Tuberculosis Dispensary from February 1st to December 31st,
1913, will be found in Appendix II., page 109.
The year under review lias been an unusually busy one in the
Public Health Department. A considerable amount of new work has
been thrown on the Department both by recent legislation and by local
activity. Among other things may be mentioned the Sanatorium Benefit
of the National Insurance Act; the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations,
1912, which came into operation on February 1st, 1913, the
establishment of the Municipal Tuberculosis Dispensary; and the
opening of the Health Institute. These additions necessitated the
appointment of three additional officers in the Public Health Department,
viz.: Tuberculosis Medical Officer, Tuberculosis Nurse, and an additional
Clerk.
In respect to the statistics of the Borough, it will be noted that
Hampstead's death-rate for the first time for many years is not the
lowest in London, being slightly higher than Lewisham and Wandsworth.
That the death-rate of Hampstead should rise is only to be
expected, for, as will be seen by the tables on pages II and 15, the
average age of the population of the Borough is steadily rising. Hampstead
still holds the premier position as regards infantile mortality, the
infantile death-rate being the lowest of all the Metropolitan Boroughs.