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3
Public Health Department,
Wood Green, N.22.
September 7th, 1949.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
of the Borough of Wood Green.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present to you my Annual Report as Medical Officer
of Health for the year 1948.
So far as the general health of the community is concerned the
year has again been a good one. Infectious disease has not been very
prevalent, and for the ninth year in succession no death from
diphtheria has occurred in Wood Green. The Birth Rate fell from
20.3 in 1947 to 15.1 in 1948, but the Death Rate at 9.8 was the
lowest for twenty years. The Infantile Mortality Rate of 28 was
the same as in 1947, and the lowest with one exception in the history
of the borough.
So far as the administration of the health services is concerned,
1948 has been a year of great change. Until 1945, when the Education
Act, 1944, came into force, Wood Green Council had been for
many years a Part III Education Authority, and the Medical Officer
of Health was the Authority's School Medical Officer, responsible
to it for the medical inspection and care of the school children.
In 1945 when Part III Education Authorities ceased to exist, the
medical inspection and the care of school children became the
responsibility of the County Council acting through the Local
Divisional Executive on which the Wood Green Council is strongly
represented. In 1948 with the coming into force of the National
Health Service Act, 1946, the Wood Green Council which had been
actively engaged in Maternity and Child Welfare work for over 40
years, ceased to have any responsibility for this work, for which
under the new Act, the County Council is now the responsible
authority, acting by means of the Local Area Health Committee,