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Public Health Department,
Town Hall, Wallington.
To the Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough
of Beddington and Wallington.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present my annual report for 1949. This is the first report
on a complete year's work presented to the Corporation since the coming
into operation of the National Health Service Act of 1946. As explained
in the report for 1948, the Surrey County Council, as local health authority
under the Act, now control the following services which were previously
administered by the Corporation:—
Care of Mothers and Young Children ;
Health Visiting ;
Home Nursing ;
Vaccination and Immunisation ;
Ambulance Services ;
Prevention of Illness, Care and After-care ; and
Domestic Help.
The description of these services and their administration is no longer
included in the body of the report, but, in order that the Corporation may
have a fuller appreciation of the health of the district as a whole, a brief
summary has been appended to the report, in which a statistical statement
of the functioning of these transferred services is set out.
The report is drawn up in accordance with the suggestions made by
the Minister of Health in his Circular 2/50. The vital statistics are based
on information supplied by the Registrar-General.
The Registrar-General estimated the population of the Borough
at the middle of the year at 32,890, but from information available from
local sources (e.g., the Food Control Office) the population at the end of
1949 was 35,000.
The birth rate per 1,000 total population shows a marked decrease at
13.23 in 1949, as compared with 14.57 in 1948, and is below that for
England and Wales, which is 16.7. The stillbirth rate of 0.21 per 1,000
total population is lower than the figure of 0.46 for 1948, and compares
favourably with that for England and Wales, which is 0.39. The stillbirth
rate per 1,000 total births is 15.84, and is appreciably lower than that for
1948, which was 30.43.
The death rate from all causes per 1,000 total population is 10.90,
compared with 10.37 in 1948 and 11.7 for England and Wales. Of the
382 deaths, diseases of the heart and circulatory system accounted for 120
(31.41 per cent. of total deaths), cancer 66 (17.28 per cent. of total deaths)
and tuberculosis 13 (3.40 per cent. of total deaths).
The maternal mortality rate per 1,000 total births is nil, as compared
with 0.98 for England and Wales.
For the third year in succession, the Corporation will no doubt view
with satisfaction the record of maternal health as shown by the previous
paragraph. No maternal deaths, that is, deaths during pregnancy from
puerperal sepsis or other maternal causes, were recorded during the year.
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