View report page

TO HIS WORSHIP THE MAYOR, THE ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS OF THE
METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF PADDINGTON.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present to you my Annual Reports for the years 1924 and 1925 as required
by the Statutes and Orders applicable to my office. I took up my duties in Paddington on September
25th, 1925, and it will be evident that a great portion of these reports deals with matters of which
I have no personal knowledge. To this extent the reports have been written under conditions of
some difficulty, and I have been dependent on information supplied to me by officers in this department.
This fact must also excuse the delay which has taken place in the issue of these reports and
the scanty comment which I have had to make on the facts and figures submitted.
The Ministry of Health have asked that reports issued during the present year may be Survey
Reports dealing with the previous five years as a whole, but with the best intention to comply with
this request I have found it to be impracticable. A mere summary of the events and statistics of
the last five years without the necessary commentary would in my opinion not be worth the time
and labour involved, and I do not feel it to be within my power to offer useful criticism of the events
of such an important epoch.
During the years 1924 and 1925 the health of the Borough continued to be good, but, judging
from the death.rate and the infantile mortality, there was no marked improvement. The birth.rate
continued to fall, and has now reached the same rate as during the war.time period. From the
purely health point of view a lowered birth.rate is advantageous, but there are, of course, cogent
reasons for deploring this continued decline in the number of infants born, especially in a borough
such as Paddington, which contains a large proportion of the efficient and successful members of
the community. The infantile mortality.rate of 72 deaths per 1,000 births reflects a great improvement
on pre.war times, but shows the need for further efforts. Boroughs such as Lewisham, Woolwich
and Hampstead have infantile mortality.rates of 55, and Lambeth of 45. An infantile mortality.
rate of 40 should be our aim, but so far our lowest rates have been 69 in the years 1922 and 1923.
An innovation which should have indirect efforts in lowering infantile mortality has been the inauguration
of a system of maternity nursing of parturient mothers attended by the students of St.
Mary's Hospital.
During my short period of office both I and my staff have received much support and consideration
from the Council, and this has served to remove many difficulties. I should like to take this
opportunity of thanking the staff of the Public Health Department for the loyal help I have received
from them, and other members of the Council's staff for many courtesies received.
I have the honour to be,
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
G. E. Oates.
M.D., M.R.C.P., D.P.H.,
Medical Officer of Health.
Town Hall,
Paddington Green, W. 2.
June, 1926.