London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Carshalton 1960
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Carshalton]
This page requires JavaScript
The "comparable" birth rate produced by the application of the
Registrar-General's comparability factor of 0.97 to allow for the disparity
in the age and sex constitution of the local population and that of the
country as a whole is 11.0 per thousand population, which compares
with 17.1 for England and Wales.
Information is not available as to the home address of births registered
to Carshalton residents occurring outside the district. For computation
of ward birth rates, therefore, use is made of the notifications
of births received under the Public Health Act, supplemented by the
Registrar's weekly returns of registrations within the district. From these
sources it is known that 687 live births and 18 stillbirths occurred in
1960
They were distributed as shown in the following table.
| Ward | Live Births | Birth Rate per 1,000 Population | Stillbirths | Stillbirth Rate per 1,000 total births |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Helier North | 77 | 9.4 | – | – |
| St. Helier South | 51 | 7.1 | 4 | 72.7 |
| St. Helier West | 68 | 9.1 | 1 | 14.4 |
| North-East | 135 | 13.9 | 4 | 28.7 |
| North-West | 103 | 14.3 | 2 | 19.0 |
| Central | 77 | 13.2 | 2 | 25.3 |
| South-East | 100 | 11.7 | 4 | 38.4 |
| South-West | 76 | 11.5 | 1 | 12.9 |
Seventy-six per cent. of all births occurred in hospitals and nursing
homes. The percentages of such births for the individual wards were
as follows:—
St. Helier North 79
St. Helier South 78
St. Helier West 68
North-East 74
North-West 80
Central 77
South-East 70
South-West 81
Out of 705 total births, 536 took place in the following hospitals and nursing homes:—
| Live | Still | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carshalton, Beddington and Wallington District (War Memorial) Hospital | 121 | 3 | 124 |
| St. Helier Hospital | 322 | 13 | 335 |
| Other Surrey Hospitals | 63 | 1 | 64 |
| Other Hospitals | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| Private Nursing Homes | – | – | – |
| Totals | 518 | 18 | 536 |
For many years more than three-quarters of all births have taken
place in Maternity Institutions.
10