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ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Bexley.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the
year 1960 which has been prepared on the lines set out in
Circular 1/61 of the Ministry of Health.
The Registrar-General's estimate of the mid year population
is 91,000 (90,500 in 1959).
The vital statistics supplied, annually, by the General
Register Office, and dealt with below indicate that, broadly
speaking, the health of the Borough was well maintained.
The standardised death rate for 1960 was 10.7 per thousand
of the home population (10.8 in 1959) compared with 11.5
per thousand for England and Wales. The standardised birth
rate was 14.8 per thousand estimated home population (14.7
in 1959) compared with a rate of 17.1 per thousand for the
country as a whole. As in 1959, 17 infants died during the
first year of life giving an infant mortality rate of 12.9 per
thousand live births (13.1 in 1959) compared with 21.9 per
thousand in England and Wales. All but two of the infantile
deaths were due to congenital abnormalities and prematurity
over which there is little control at present.
For the fourth successive year there was no maternal
death associated with childbirth. Bearing in mind that during
this period there were 5,163 total births in the area, it may
be said with some confidence that the result reflects the
efficiency of the antenatal and obstetrical services as well
as the greater degree of control over puerperal infections
made possible by the use of the antibiotics and chemotherapeutic
substances.
In regard to the infectious diseases, it is pleasing to
report that, for the eleventh year in succession, there has
been no case of diphtheria in the Borough. It is, nevertheless,
a duty that the public should be constantly reminded of
the possible return of this disease should the level of immunisation
fall to a sufficiently low level. Already there have
been signs of a recrudescence of the disease in various parts
of the country and, while there were no deaths from this
cause in England and Wales during 1959, there were two
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