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6
TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF
THE HEALTH COMMITTEE
Madam Chairman, My Lady, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present herewith my Twenty-Ninth and last Report as
Medical Officer of Health to the Borough of Walthamstow on the
health and health services of the Borough during 1958. Once again,
by courtesy of the County Medical Officer, I am able to give details
of the personal Health Services administered by the Walthamstow
Health Area Sub-Committee of the County Health Committee.
Vital statistics were on the whole very good with a new low
record in the infant mortality rate at 15.4. The still-birth rate was
21.1 against 14.0 in the previous year, but on the other hand the
neo-natal death rate was only 8.4 against 16.9, and the year was the
second one without a maternal death. A table is included giving
the quinquennial averages of the vital statistics back to 1930 and
showing the improvement in the overall health position over the last
quarter of a century, during which the infant mortality rate has been
reduced from 49.0 to 23.0, the still-birth rate from 35.5 to 19.8, the
neo-natal mortality rate from 25.6 to 16.4 and the maternal
mortality rate from 3.92 to 1.2.
Details are given of the integration of the health services, which
appear to be the best possible having regard to the overall trichotomy.
Old people's welfare is strictly a function of the Local Health
Authority, but much is done by the Walthamstow Old People's
Welfare Association and the Borough Council in regard to our
ageing population, a problem which is becoming one of the most
urgent in the field of Public Health. Fifty-nine cases required
individual and special consideration as against forty-one last year
in regard to the possibility of admission to an appropriate institution.
Twelve cases required consideration in regard to the possibility of
compulsory removal under the National Assistance Act, Section 47
as compared with four in the previous year. Fortunately, however,
in only one case was an Order required.
With regard to the work of the Public Health Inspectorate, the
atmospheric pollution instruments installed in the town showed
that, on the whole, the degree of sulphur dioxide contamination is
considerably less than in some adjoining areas. A pilot survey was
carried out in regard to a smoke control area consisting of 784
dwellings and action is now proceeding in regard to the submission
of a definite area as a commencement in making the whole of the
Borough a smokeless zone. Routine inspections were well maintained.
With regard to inspection and supervision of food, routine
sampling was well maintained. The Deputy Chief Public Health
Inspector prepared a paper in regard to the sampling of cooked