View report page

COULSDON AND PURLEY URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting my Annual Report for 1954, this
being my twenty-third report as your Medical Officer of Health.
As in previous years, this Report has been prepared in accordance
with the instructions of the Minister, but on this occasion, in
order to provide variety, the section on Maternity and Child
Welfare has been slightly expanded, it being thought that members
of the Council would be interested to note such variations as have
occurred since they ceased to become directly responsible for this
service. Similarly, to facilitate reference, most of the essential
addresses and clinic arrangements have been tabulated together.
It is hoped both innovations will be acceptable.
Although the year 1954 will remain in our memories as a
comparatively sunless one, with a wet summer and autumn, it was
quite a good one from the point of view of the public health, as
judged by the vital statistics.
The Birth Rate was higher than in the preceding four years,
and, although the Stillbirth Rate was slightly above the average
for recent years, the percentage of illegitimacy remained at the
lowest pre-war average.
Similarly, although the Death Rate again appears to have
been high, this is due to the recent inclusion of deaths in the
mental hospitals; the death rate for normal residents was, in fact,
the lowest since 1938. The total Cancer Death Rate remained
fairly steady, if anything being slightly less in 1954, but the proportion
of male cancer deaths attributed to cancer of the lungs
continued to increase. On the other hand, the death rates from
tuberculosis and other infectious diseases were well below the
average, and, apart from whooping cough and food poisoning, the
incidence of infectious disease was very low. Only one case of
slight paralytic poliomyelitis was notified.
The Maternal Mortality Rate was slightly lower, but the most
spectacular feature of the year was the fall in the number of infant
deaths, although even these might well have been fewer. The
Infant Mortality Rate of 10.8 per 1,000 registered births is only
slightly over half the lowest ever previously recorded in this
District and, while a rate of this sort is apt to fluctuate violently,
reflecting as it does such relatively small numbers, it is only
natural to rejoice at this improvement even if, as is probable, this
rate rises again to some extent next year. Even such temporary
successes have their value in indicating what can be achieved,
though of more permanent value is the steady decline in the
average death rate from tuberculosis and the complete absence of
diphtheria for eight successive years.
4