London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Ilford 1952
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Ilford]
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50
Illegitimate Births and Deaths.—91 of the live births registered
(41 males and 50 females were illegitimate, that is 3.9 per cent. of the
births registered.
No illegitimate child died under one year of age.
The following table shows the birth and death rates of legitimate and illegitimate infants for the past ten years:—
| Legitimate Infants | Illegitimate Infants | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Live Births | Percentage of Registered Births | Deaths | Rate per 1,000 Legitimate Live Births | Live Births | Percentage of Registered Births | Deaths | Rate per 1,000 Illegitimate Live Births |
| 1952 | 2,232 | 96.1 | 44 | 19.7 | 91 | 3.9 | - | - |
| 1951 | 2,306 | 97.1 | 49 | 21.2 | 70 | 2.9 | 1 | 14.3 |
| 1950 | 2,332 | 96.9 | 41 | 17.6 | 74 | 3.1 | 4 | 54.0 |
| 1949 | 2,567 | 97.6 | 51 | 19.9 | 63 | 2.4 | 2 | 31.7 |
| 1948 | 2,757 | 96.8 | 58 | 21.0 | 91 | 3.2 | 4 | 43.9 |
| 1947 | 3,258 | 96.7 | 78 | 23.9 | 110 | 3.3 | 4 | 36.4 |
| 1946 | 3,336 | 96.9 | 97 | 29.1 | 107 | 3.1 | 5 | 46.7 |
| 1945 | 2,343 | 94.5 | 73 | 31.2 | 136 | 5.5 | 8 | 58.8 |
| 1944 | 2,655 | 95.8 | 95 | 35.7 | 116 | 4.2 | 7 | 60.3 |
| 1943 | 2,532 | 96.6 | 89 | 35.2 | 89 | 3.4 | 3 | 33.7 |
The Chelmsford Diocesan Moral Welfare Association continued in
1952 to undertake the care of the unmarried mother and her child on
behalf of the County Council and there has been direct co-operation
through their Moral Welfare Worker for this district. In addition, all
cases are followed up by the Health Visitors.
Health Visitors and School Nurses.—The shortage of health
visiting staff continued and Clinic Nurses continued to be employed to
relieve the Health Visitors of certain duties.
The Essex County Council's Training Scheme for Health Visitors, in
conjunction with the S.E. Essex Technical College, has continued and
certain trainees have again been allocated to Ilford for practical instruction.
Three trainees, on completing the Course in 1952 and passing the
examination for the Health Visitors' Certificate of the Royal Sanitary
Institute, were appointed as Health Visitors and School Nurses here and
one further trainee was appointed as a Tuberculosis Health Visitor.
At the end of the year there were 12 full-time qualified Health
Visitors and School Nurses in addition to the Superintendent Health
Visitor, and 5 Clinic Nurses. Although this shows an increase over
previous years, the health visiting staff is still below the approved establishment
of 18.
The following is a summary of the home visits made by the Health
Visitors and Clinic Nurses during 1952 as far as the Maternity and Child
Welfare work is concerned.
First visits to newly-born infants 2,389
Subsequent visits to children under 1 year of age 3,995
Subsequent visits to children over 1 year of age and under 5 11,895
Visits to expectant mothers 87
Home visits for other reasons 4,316
Total visits paid 22,682