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MEDICAL OFFICER'S ANNUAL REPORT
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Hayes, Middlesex.
June, 1953
To the Chairman and Members of the Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the forty-eighth Annual Report
on the health of your Urban District.
There has been no major epidemic during the year. Notifications
of tuberculosis have dropped from 109 to 101 and deaths
from this cause from 24 to 12 since last year. There has again
been no case of diphtheria and no case of food poisoning in a
restaurant or canteen. It was notable that the severe fogs of
last winter were followed by a sharp rise in respiratory affections.
The freedom from diphtheria in the Urban District since 1947
can be attributed to the high proportion of children immunised.
There is a danger that the absence of the disease may result in
parents neglecting to have their children protected. I would like
to urge everyone who has the care of a child to make sure that
that child is immunised, preferably before he attains the age of
one year.
One of the most striking features in public health in recent
years has been the continuous fall in infantile deaths. Last year
the rate fell to the lowest point ever recorded and this year the
figure is not much greater. I think this is evidence of the benefits
derived from a higher standard of education in matters of hygiene,
and of the facilities now available to mothers to obtain medical
advice and treatment. The Food Hygiene Guild has no doubt
contributed to this end by educating shop-keepers and the public
in matters of cleanliness in handling food.
I should like to record my thanks to Mr. J. S. Hodgins, the
Chief Sanitary Inspector, and to all the staff of the Public Health
Department for their loyal and willing service. My thanks are
also due to the other members of the staff of the Council who have
so readily co-operated when asked to do so. May I also in this,
my last report, express my gratitude to the Council, and especially
the Public Health Committee, for the kindness and consideration
so consistently shown to me.
I am, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
J. STANLEY LLOYD,
Medical Of ficer of Health.
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