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8
trend towards hospital confinements in London, or whether she will find her main
work in the domiciliary ante-natal and post-natal care of the hospital patient.
Some six years ago the Council's Toddler Medical Inspection Scheme was
started. It has now established itself in the eyes of the public as a valuable part
of the Council's Child Welfare Scheme, and it would appear that the time is now
ripe for its extension along present lines, but providing for more home visiting
and for additional facilities for eye and dental treatment.
The year has been an extremely busy one for the sanitary section of the
Department, not only in routine sanitary administration, the supervision of food
supplies, and control of infectious disease, but also in the matter of slum clearance.
At the end of the year, 22 areas included in the five year programme had been
represented as unhealthy areas and Clearance Orders had been made by the Council.
The Orders have all been confirmed by the Minister, either in 1935 or early in
1936. They deal with 213 houses in all, details of which will be found in the
Housing Section of the Report. The provision of re-housing accommodation is
in process, and 343 persons had been re-housed in new houses by the end of the
year. Officers of the London County Council have made inspections of four large
areas in this Borough, but no official representations had been made by the County
Medical Officer by the end of the year. It is quite clear, however, that such
representations will be made in the near future.
A new epoch in housing matters is foreshadowed by the recent housing survey,
the first stage of which—the ascertainment of the amount of overcrowding—was
completed during the year. It is dealt with in detail in the fifth section of the
Report.
Compared with 1934 the incidence of infectious disease showed a marked
decrease, due mainly to the absence of a measles epidemic. There were fewer
cases of diphtheria (313 as against 416), of scarlet fever (634 against 989), of
pneumonia (255 as against 280), or erysipelas (78 as against 119). There was an
increase in the number of cases of puerperal pyrexia and puerperal fever (45 as
against 35), and of ophthalmia neonatorum (17 as against 7). The number of
cases of measles fell from 2,392 to 656.
The number of notifications of tuberculosis received during the year was 242,
compared with 269 in 1934. At the end of the year there were 798 persons suffering
from pulmonary tuberculosis, and 177 persons suffering from other forms of
tuberculosis, that is in all 975 persons (1,048 in 1934), living in the Borough. The
number of deaths from tuberculosis during the year was 136, compared with 146
in 1934.
The principal vital statistics for the year are as follows: The birth rate was
14.0, an increase of 0.3 on that of 1934. The infantile mortality rate was 44
compared with 63 in the previous year, and the neo-natal mortality rate (deaths
under four weeks per thousand births) was 19.5 as against 27.5. The number of
maternal deaths was three, the same as in 1934, the rate for the year per thousand
births being 1.46.