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Borough of Twickenham.
Public Health Department,
Elmfield House,
High Street,
Teddington.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Twickenham.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report on the health and sanitary
condition of the borough during the year ended December 31st, 1938.
The report is drawn up in accordance with the directions contained in
Circular 1728, issued by the Minister of Health in October, 1938, and is
compiled as an ordinary report.
I very much regret the delay which has occurred in the preparation of
this report; the work on it has had to be set aside from time to time on account
of pressing and urgent problems in connection with the preparation and
carrying into effect of the Council's Air Raid Precautions Scheme.
My association with the work of the Department dates only from
September, 1938, and the greater part of the administrative work during the
year was carried out by my predecessor, Dr. G. H. Dupont.
Points of interest in the report are the low death rate in the borough as
compared with the country as a whole, the principal causes of death being
heart disease, cancer, and tuberculosis; the infant mortality rate, which is
also below the rate for the country as a whole; the ready acceptance byparents
of immunization against diphtheria for their children; the satisfactory
working of the municipal midwifery service. The incidence of scarlet fever
rose from 118 cases notified during 1937 to 271 during 1938, but notifications
of diphtheria fell from 116 in 1937 to 70 during 1938.
I desire to acknowledge with grateful thanks the consideration and
courtesv which the Council have shown to me during the period of my
introduction as your new Medical Officer of Health; also, the friendly
co-operation and help which I have received from my colleagues in other
departments ; and not least to the staff of the Health Department, who have
been most w illing and loyal.
I am,
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
JOHN MADDISON,
Medical Officer of Health.
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