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FRIERN BARNET URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.
Public Health Department,
Town Hall. N. 11.
August. 1949.
The Chairman and Members of the
Friern Barnet Urban District Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my report on the
state of the public health and sanitary circumstances of the
District for the year ending 31st. December, 1948.
The Ministry of Health (Circular 3/49) again
requires that this report shall be in abridged form, and it is
therefore little more than a factual record of statistics.
The year was satisfactory from the point of view
of vital statistics. The death-rate showed another decrease, and
although the birth-rate was lower than last year, the infantile
mortality rate was the lowest for a number of years. The infectious
sickness rate showed a sharp increase, but this was due to the fact
that the number of cases of Measles and Whooping Cough were more than
double than the previous year. There has been a small decrease in
the number of new cases of Tuberculosis. Six cases of Polio-myelitis
were notified, but no source of infection was traced, nor were any
of the cases known contacts.
The National Health Service Act which came into force
during the year left the responsibility for Maternity and Child
Welfare end the other personal Health Services with the County Council
as the Local Health Authority, but indirectly placed a certain amount
of additional work on the Department in dealing with numerous calls by
the public for advice and information on the various services.
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