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Annual Report of the
Medical Officer of Health
for the Year 1948
Public Health Department,
Council Offices,
Northwood.
June, 1949.
To the Chairman and Members of the
Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On 31st March, 1948, Mr. S. P. Bristow, c.r.s.i., m.s.i.a., Senior
Sanitary Inspector, retired after 29 years' loyal service with the Council,
and I should like to record my appreciation of his work for the Public
Health Department during my term of office and to wish him health
and prosperity in the future.
We have been fortunate in securing the services of Mr. E. H.
Jenkins, m.san.i.a., m.r.s.i., formerly Sanitary Inspector of Fulham
Borough Council, in his stead, who has taken up his new duties
enthusiastically.
The health of the District has again been satisfactory. No cases
of Smallpox were reported. A few cases of Anterior Poliomyelitis
occurred but these were merely sporadic and did not assume epidemic
proportions as in 1947.
One case occurred in a member of the gymnastic team from
Czechoslovakia competing in the Olympic Games, and I regret to
state that she died. It was evident that this competitor arrived in this
country with the disease in its early stages. All precautions for
isolation of contacts and disinfection of the premises at St. Helen's
School were promptly enforced and I am glad to report that no
further cases occurred.
The Registrar-General's estimate of the population for the midyear
1948, namely 64,270 shows a slight decrease from that of 1947,
namely 64,590, in part no doubt due to the decrease of the birth rate
from 19.120 to 17.099 per 1,000 population for the same two years.
The number of inhabited houses in April, 1948, was 18,205.
The death rate from all causes for the two years has also fallen
slightly from 7.772 in 1947 to 7.686 per 1,000 population in 1948.
This compares very favourably with the Registrar-General's estimate
for England and Wales, namely 10.8. Statistical tables are set out
in detail on subsequent pages.
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