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Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.
Public Health Offices,
8/14, Laburnum Street, E.2.
May, 1934.
TO the MAYOR, ALDERMEN and COUNCILLORS
of the Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch.
Sir, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present my Annual Report for the year 1933.
Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria were both more prevalent than during the last
few years. In this respect Shoreditch shares the increased incidence of these
diseases recorded for the Metropolis as a whole. In the case of Diphtheria there
is evidence of increased severity, and consideration of this makes it a matter for
great satisfaction that Shoreditch now has a Diphtheria Immunization Clinic, and
that parents are evincing a desire to have their children protected against this
disease, and are attending the Clinic in increasing numbers.
Indications of the social changes that are slowly but surely altering the character
of the Borough are to be found in a birth rate of 16 per thousand, which though
still the highest in London, is the lowest so far recorded for Shoreditch, and in the
Registrar-General's estimated mid-1933 population of 93,550, also a low record
that may be compared with the estimated figures for the year 192-3 of 106,200 and for
the year 1913 of 110,410.
This, which is the seventh 1 have prepared, is the last Annual Report that it
will be my privilege to submit to you. ,
At the end of March the neighbouring Borough Council of St. Pancras did me
the honour to appoint me to the post of Medical Officer of Health, and 1 take
up my new duties on 1st July.
In these circumstances the thanks that are due from me to the staff of the
Health Department are tendered, not only in respect of the year just concluded, but
of the keen and willing assistance that I have received from one and all throughout
the period that I have held my present post. For the reason that the administrative
duties of these officers place them in key positions so far as the efficient working of
the department is concerned, I wish especially to thank Dr. Evelyn McGregor, the
Assistant Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Cullen, the Tuberculosis Officer, Mr.
Wilsher, the Chief Clerk, and Mr. Wright, the Senior Sanitary Inspector.
In conclusion, I take this opportunity to thank past and present members of the
Council for the unfailing assistance and encouragement accorded to me in my work
during the thirteen years that I have served this Authority. These years have seen
advances in the Health services of the Borough with which it is a great privilege
to have been associated, and for the future development of which 1 beg you,
Sir, Ladies and Gentlemen,
to accept the best wishes of
Your obedient Servant,
MA1TLAND RADFORD,
Medical Officer of Health.