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3
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR 1958
Town Hall,
Anerley Road, S.E.20.
27th May, 1959.
To the Chairman and Members of the Urban District Council of Penge.
Mr. Chairman, Lady and Gentlemen,
I beg to present my report for the year ending 31st December, 1958, which
is compiled in accordance with Ministry of Health Circular No. 22/58 and
Corrigenda thereto of January, 1959.
The Vital Statistics for the year call for little comment, the amount of
variation being very slight, and the figures themselves compare favourably with
the country as a whole. As before, a large proportion of the deaths were among
people of 65 years of age and over. It is this section of the population for which
so much is being done by various voluntary organisations in the district in the
way of meals-on-wheels, clubs and other welfare services. At the same time in
this department we too frequently come across, by chance, the lonely and often
ill old person who greatly needs help in some way or another. If only we could
be notified earlier of these cases I am sure a lot of suffering would be relieved.
During the year progress was made with slum clearance, and five areas,
comprising 22 houses, were officially represented to the Council and declared
clearance areas. When re-building on these sites is completed one hopes that
more of the sub-standard houses in Penge will be replaced.
The value of immunisation is shown by the fact that for the eleventh
consecutive year no case of diphtheria has occurred in the district. During the
year, under arrangements made by the County Council, vaccination against
poliomyelitis was proceeded with and a large number of children received two
doses and some, seven months later, a third. A large number of parents, however,
still have not given their children the advantage of this protection in spite of all
the publicity it has received and the emphasis laid on the fact that it is quite safe.
The year has been a difficult one for the department owing to the vacant
position of district public health inspector, and I am grateful to all members
of the staff of the department for willingly and cheerfully undertaking a lot of
extra work to enable things to run as smoothly as they have done.