London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Beckenham 1948
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Beckenham]
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of the Schools with the staff of the Department, to maintain a reasonable
level of protection among the children of Beckenham. The
percentage of protected individuals was seldom much above fifty, and
though this was not an ideal figure, it did seem to be sufficient to prevent
the reappearance of those waves of high incidence from which the
district had suffered in the past.
Although the Ministry of Health had always encouraged this form of
protection, it was not until the early years of the late war that the
Government started a nation-wide campaign for Diphtheria immunisation
; as a result of this a considerably larger proportion of the children
were protected.
I gave a full account of the work done in Beckenham in a monograph
presented to the Council in 1943. Since that time the incidence
of the disease has continued to decline, and in the last four years, the
total number of cases notified was ten: only two of these cases occurred
in children in the Council's schools, and in the same period there was
one death from the disease.
I reprint the Table included in the Annual Report for 1945, brought up to June, 1948, when the administration of the Service passed into the hands of the Kent County Council.
| Five year period. | Attack rate per 1,000 population. | Death rate per 1,000 population | Case Mortality rate. Deaths per 100 cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1895—1899 | 1.24 | 0.19 | 15.8 |
| 1900—1904 | 1.27 | 0.17 | 13.9 |
| 1905—1909 | 1.92 | 0.14 | 7.4 |
| 1910—1914 | 2.32 | 0.15 | 6.6 |
| 1915—1919 | 0.93 | 0.03 | 3.4 |
| 1920—1924 | 0.88 | 0.07 | 8.2 |
| 1925—1929 | 1.07 | 0.09 | 8.3 |
| 1930—1934 | 0.40 | 0.008 | 2.0 |
| 1935—1939 | 0.22 | 0.014 | 6.6 |
| 1940—1944 | 0.24 | 0.017 | 7.1 |
| 1945—June, 1948 | 0.04 | 0.004 | 10.0 |
The Case Mortality Rate shows that although the incidence is very
greatly reduced, the disease is still dangerous.
4. Civil Ambulance Service.
This service was administered by the Fire Brigade Committee in
the years before the war.
The service started in January, 1920, and the first motor ambulance
was presented by the British Red Cross Society.
In the first complete year, the Ambulance Service were called upon
to answer only 87 calls. Since the vehicle was manned by members of
the Beckenham Fire Brigade, there was an admirable machinery to
receiving and answering calls, and only a small number of staff in addition
to those required for Fire Service duties was required; consequently
the service was conducted very efficiently and very economically.
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