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8
Madam, Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my 21st Annual Report on
the Health Services of the Borough during 1945, the year of
Victory.
The Report is an interim report, as suggested by the Minister
of Health, and is confined to essentials until the time is opportune
to present a more comprehensive survey of public health
activities. In portraying in broad outline only the main activities
of the Health Department, one is conscious that the
absence of much important detail does not allow one to do full
justice either to the results accruing from the comprehensive
services or to the efforts of the officials of the Department who
so efficiently dispense these varied services for the common
good.
I believe I am correct in my view that had it not been for
the organisation of the Public Health Service in all its many
activities, built up so successfully in the years of peace, the
strain of the war years could not have been surmounted, nor
would I be able to submit such satisfactory statistical returns
as are embodied in the reports of the last few years It may
well be, however, that the expenditure of effort by each member
of the Public of Bromley during these years of stress has
depleted the stock of resistance to disease and to fatigue of
mind and body. Time alone will answer.
The statistics for 1945 are generally satisfactory. The mid1945
figure of population given by the Registrar General is
52,310. I believe the figure to be in the region of 62,000. The
vital statistics are good, the Birth Rate is 16.6, the Death Rate
12.5, the Infant Mortality Rate 28.6, and no maternal deaths.
The year saw the commencement of the Domestic Help
Service by the Local Authority on behalf of the Ministry of
Health, a service invaluable in selected cases, and one that will
be, in my opinion, a continuous need.
The increasing demand for maternity bed hospital accommodation
has placed a great strain upon the Department,
especially arising during the serious housing shortage for the
young married people and the great difficulty of obtaining
adequate nursing staff.
The housing problem remains acute in spite of intense activity
by the Local Authority. Until this problem is solved efforts
to promote health and happiness of our people will be merely
palliative,