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COULSDON AND PURLEY URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present to you my Annual Report for 1949, this being my
eighteenth report as your Medical Officer of Health.
The arrangement adopted in previous reports has again been retained,
and, developing slightly the practice initiated in the 1948 Report, the
opportunity has been taken to include information regarding the present
arrangements for those Health Services which are not the responsibility
of this Council.
Reviewing the state of the public health in this District during 1949
it is pleasing to note that, as judged by the vital statistics, the general
health of the population remained good on the whole, although unfavourable
variations are observable in certain of the rates compared
with 1948. The Birth Rate, for example, again decreased, and the
Still Birth Rate increased slightly, but the Infant Mortality Rate was
lower than in 1948 and, having only been lower on three occasions,
remains comparatively satisfactory, particularly as more than half the
deaths in young babies were due to conditions which are at present
unpreventable.
The crude Death Rate increased slightly, but when corrected to
allow for the abnormal distribution of the sexes and age groups locally,
it compares very favourably with that of the Country as a whole. It is
most satisfactory to report that no maternal deaths occurred during the
year.
The incidence of infectious disease was not quite so low as in recent
years, but the most prevalent diseases, measles and scarlet fever, were
very mild in type, only one death occurring from the former in a child
who was handicapped by a congenital defect. For the third year in
succession no case of diptheria occurred in the District, but the immunity
of the children must be maintained by active immunisation if this record
is to be retained. It is also pleasing to note the absence of any cases of
cerebro-spinal fever or puerperal pyrexia, and the diminution of dysentry
in the mental hospitals in the District.
Poliomyelitis was again slightly more prevalent, but only nine cases
occurred in this District, with one death.
Reference was made to the inauguration of the National Health
Service in my last Report, and there is little which can usefully be added
thereto. A number of the most obvious initial mistakes were dealt with
during 1949, and the excessive demands on certain branches of the
Service moderated somewhat. The expected spate of requests for
spectacles, dentures and medical accessories passed the maximum and
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