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
Sutton 1971
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Sutton]
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PERSONAL HEALTH SERVICES
Local Health Authority Personal Health Services are provided under the various sections of
Part III of the National Health Service Act 1946 and are complementary to the services provided
by the Regional Hospital Boards and Executive Councils.
The Local Authority Health Services give particular emphasis to the more vulnerable members
of the community - expectant mothers, pre-school children, school children, elderly and handicapped
The emphasis is on early detection of abnormality; cases requiring treatment are referred either to
the general practitioner or to hospital.
Maternal and Child Health
Births Notified by Medical Practitioners or Midwives - 1st January - 31st December 1971
| (a) | (b) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| In the area including those normally resident elsewhere | Resident in the area including those born elsewhere, i.e. adjusted by inward and outward transfers | ||||
| 1971 | 1970 | 1971 | 1970 | ||
| Live | 3447 | 2965 | Live | 2398 | 2363 |
| Still | 28 | 25 | Still | 28 | 19 |
| TOTAL _ | 3475 | 2990 | TOTAL | 2426 | 2382 |
Births in Hospital 2268 2151
Births at Home 158 231
The number of home confinements continue to decrease but the work of the midwives has in fact
increased since they delivered 112 cases in hospital and provided additional ante-natal and post-natal
service for hospital booked cases.
Prematurity
Full schedule showing statistics will be seen in Table II in the Appendix to this report.
| Total | Non-Premature | Premature | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 1970 | 1971 | 1970 | 1971 | 1970 | ||
| Live births | 2398 | 2363 | 2262 | 2229 | 136 | 134 | |
| Deaths among live births in the first month of life | 25 | 21 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 12 | |
| Stillbirths | 28 | 19 | 12 | 9 | 16 | 10 | |
The Department of Health and Social Security's definition of a premature birth is one when the infant
at birth weighs 5lbs. 8 ozs. or less.
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