View report page

Public Health Department,
Town Hall, Wallington.
To the Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough
of Bedding ton and Wallington.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my annual report for 1954. The report
is drawn up in accordance with the suggestions made by the Minister
of Health in his Circulars 1/54 and 28/54. The vital statistics are based
on information supplied by the Registrar-General.
The presentation follows that adopted for the previous five years,
and those services which are under the control of the Surrey County
Council, the Local Health Authority under the National Health Service
Act, 1946, are reported upon in a brief statistical statement appended
to the report. The services dealt with in this addendum are:
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 Registrar-General's estimate of the population of Beddington
and Wallington at mid-year 1954 is 32,620, and this figure is used in the
compilation of the vital statistics. The figure shows an increase of 110
over the Registrar-General's estimate for mid-year 1953. The census
of population taken in 1951 was 32,751.
The birth rate per 1,000 total population shows an increase at 13.52
in 1954, as compared with 12.65 in 1953. This rate is below that for
England and Wales, which is 15.20.
The stillbirth rate is 0.25 per 1,000 total population, as compared
with 0.12 recorded in 1953. The corresponding figure for England and
Wales is 0.36. Expressed as a rate per 1,000 total births, the stillbirth
rate is 18.87. In 1953 this rate was 10.20.
The number of children stillborn in the district was 8, out of a total
of 424 births. Although this figure is an increase on that recorded for
1953, it is still commendably low. Many factors, such as abnormal
development of the foetus, which are not thoroughly understood, are
involved in stillbirths, over which we have no control.
The death rate from all causes per 1,000 total population is 9.45,
compared with 9.23 in 1953 and 11.30 for England and Wales. Of the
347 deaths, diseases of the heart and circulatory system accounted for
128 (36.88 per cent. of total deaths), cancer 70 (20.17 per cent. of total
deaths), and tuberculosis 3 (0.86 per cent. of total deaths).
7