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2
COUNTY BOROUGH OF CROYDON.
ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
For the Year 1950.
S. L. WRIGHT, M.D., M.R.C.P., D.P.H,
To the Chairman and Members of Ihe Health Committee.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the 51st Annual Report on tlie
health of the people of Croydon and the relevant services of the
Corporation for the year ending December 31st, 1950.
As shown by statistics this was a year of progress. The
standardised death-rate, the infant mortality rate and the tuberculosis
death-rate, which together comprise the most sensitive
index of the health of a community were the lowest on record.
The birth-rate fell to a figure approaching the level prevailing in
the years preceding World War II. For the first time the
Registrar-General provides a comparability factor for adjusting
local birth-rates according to the proportion of women of childbearing
age. The factor for Croydon being less than one, shows
that in comparison with the country as a whole, Croydon has a
larger than average proportion of potential mothers.
As regards infectious diseases during 1950, poliomyelitis was
prevalent, but not to the extent experienced in 1947.
Duties under the National Health Service Act gave rise to
no particular difficulties, but demands on all facilities continued
to increase. The cordial relationships with the hospital and
general practitioner divisions of the service have continued and
wherever spheres of influence met co-ordination and the avoidance
of overlapping have been fostered. The figures which I am able
to present suggest that our combined efforts have met with some