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Telephone: Public Health Department,
Feltham 2281 and 3281 Council Offices,
Feltham.
July, 1962.
To: The Chairman and Members of the Feltham Urban
District Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting for your consideration
the Annual Report on the Health and Sanitation of your
District for the year 1961.
Total births of 921 give an adjusted Birth Rate of 17.7
per 1,000 of the population; this is again an increase on
last year and compares favourably with the national rate
of 17.4 for England and Wales. This is offset to some
degree by an increase of 4.5 in the Infant Mortality Rate
at 24.9 per 1,000 live births. Nineteen out of a total of
twenty-one infant deaths occurred within a month of birth
with once again, congenital malformations and prematurity
as the main causes of death. An interesting point which
leads on from the above is that although prematurity is
one of the main causes of death in infant life, it is not
always fatal. However, the premature child who survives
may be damaged in other ways e.g. complete or partial
deafness. The early diagnosis of this condition is now considered
to be of such importance that any child known to
have been subjected to any adverse prenatal or perenatal
influence is now considered as being "at risk". The Local
Health Authority in the district is now compiling "At risk"
registers in order that this group of children may be followed
up until positive evidence is obtained that the hearing is
normal.
The deaths in Feltham amounted to a total of 387
giving an adjusted mortality rate of 12.2 per 1,000 of the
population which compares with a rate of 12.0 for England
and Wales. Forty-nine per cent of deaths registered in the
district were of people over seventy years of age with diseases
of the heart and circulation as the main causes.
The District had a relatively good year in respect of
infectious diseases. This was only marred by the usual
biennial rise in the incidence of measles with 782 notifications.
There were no fatalities, but measles can produce a