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3
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of
Dagenham.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In presenting my report on the health of Dagenham for the
year 1951, I would again invite your attention to the fact that
much of the report deals with the services which are administered
by the Local Health Authority through the Health Area SubCommittee.
With a view to making the report informative the
services affecting the health of the Borough are discussed without
discriminating between the Authorities ultimately responsible for
them.
The birth and death rates approximate very closely to those
of the previous year, there being 44 fewer births in the current
year and an increase of 41 deaths of residents. This is to be
expected as the population becomes stabilised and the average age
thereby increases.
The death rate however is still below that of the country as
a whole. The crude death rate for Dagenham was 7.42 but in
order to compare this with the rate for England and Wales, the
comparability factor of 1.64 must be applied which gives the figure
of 12.16. The comparable rate for the 126 County Boroughs and
Great Towns (including London) is 13.4.
The uncorrected birth rate was 15.25, the corrected rate 14.48,
this is less than that for the Great Towns which was 17.3.
The infant mortality rate was 30.08, that for the Great Towns
was 33.9 and for England and Wales 29.6.
MATERNAL
DEATHS.
I regret to have to report that one maternal death
occurred. The patient was apparently a healthy
woman and had been regularly examined at the
ante-natal clinic and the usual laboratory tests were applied and
revealed no abnormality. Furthermore, the patient co-operated
intelligently throughout the pregnancy and during the labour. The
services of the obstetric emergency unit were invoked and were in
operation within a matter of minutes of being called.
As there was no clear indication of the cause of death the
Coroner was informed and an autopsy performed by a Pathologist.
The findings showed that there was early rheumatic involvement
of the mitral valve of the heart and gross oedema and congestion
of both lungs with scanty sub-pleural haemorrhages.
One of my colleagues and I searched the literature and as a
result were of the opinion that death was probably due to pulmonary