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BOROUGH OF BRENTFORD AND CHISWICK
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, Chiswick, W.4.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors and
Members of the Education Committee of the
Borough of Brentford and Chiswick.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit an Annual Report on the Health
Services, School Medical Services, and Sanitary Circumstances of
your District for the year 1947.
This will be the last complete year in which the majority of
these Services will be under your control, as on July 5th, 1948, the
County Council will become the Local Health Authority responsible
for the personal health services, leaving the District Council
to administer the environmental services only—relegating you to
the status of Local Sanitary Authority, which was your position
in the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century.
The vital statistics may be considered satisfactory. In
common with the trend apparent in the rest of the country, there
was a fall in the birth rate to 19.2 (national rate, 20.5). The death
rate was 12.1 (national rate, 12.0). The infantile mortality rate
of 36.6 compares favourably with the national rate of 41.0, and
in this connection I have introduced a graph showing the striking
progress which has been made since 1900. It will be interesting
to see whether the personal health services which have done so
much to improve the lot of mothers and young children will be
as effective when administered by a larger Area as by a smaller
District Council.
The year was marked by an outbreak of infantile paralysis
unprecedented in this country. 27 confirmed cases were notified
from this district and all were admitted to hospital. One case
of acute polio-encephalitis was also notified, admitted to hospital
and died soon after admission. Further comment on this outbreak
is made in the body of the report. The only other infectious
disease showing any marked prevalence was measles, of which 438
cases were notified, and from this disease there were two deaths.
A report by Dr. R. A. Leader, Medical Officer of Health, Ealing,
and Medical Superintendent of the Ealing and Brentford and
Chiswick Hospitals Committee, covering the work of the Perivale
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