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ANNUAL REPORT
of the
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
for the year 1961
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Borough of Hendon
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Report for the year 1961.
The health statistics were good in 1961, and the Registrar-General has estimated
a slight decrease in the population. The high birth rate of 1946, with its
problem of the "bulge" for the educationalist, may in the near future, with the
increase in the number of young women in the population, lead to an increase in
the birth rate.
The ratio of population of homes is lower than ever with an average figure of
3.3 persons per home, but with the little land available for building and the
present price of houses there is no suggestion of surplus accommodation, and housing
difficulties still persist. Several remedies have been tried. We now build
upwards more than ever before, and numbers of families and industries have been
moved out to new towns beyond the Green Belt. There is scope for a further
suggestion-would it not be simpler if instead of moving factories and homes to
the new towns, we instead extended a trend well-established in the higher income
groups and gave some special encouragement by way of subsidy to retired people to
move to the already established retirement areas at the South coast? Such an
arrangement might lead to a substantia] increase in the number of people who do
so, and who if in good health would regard such a move as a fitting reward for
their years of work in the metropolis.
The publication (in 1962) of the Report on Fluoridation of Domestic Water
Supplies as a means of improving dental health reminds us of the fact that drinking
water supplied by both the Metropolitan Water Board to the South part of the
Borough, and the Colne Valley Water Company in the North is seriously deficient in
this valuable trace element. A plea is often made by members of the general public
for more medical research, but in the case of fluoridation the research scientists
have reason to criticise the public's failure to adopt this recommendation with the
same enthusiasm as have some forty million people in other countries. Local Government
in the Greater London Area is complex and likely to change, and for this reason
some years may elapse before fluoridation can be introduced, but in the meantime
parents who are interested in this subject should consult their doctor or dentist
about the possibility of fluoridation of their children's drinking water.
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