View report page

PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
92, BATH ROAD,
HOUNSLOW.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Heston and Isleworth.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report on the health, vital statistics and sanitary circumstances
of the Borough for the year 1948. The report has been prepared on the lines suggested in Ministry
of Health Circular 3/49 and for the convenience the larger statistical tables have been grouped together
at the end of the Report.
The year 1948 was an important one in the history of the health services of the Borough. The
transfer of the personal health services from the control of the Borough Council which started with the
Education Act, 1944 was completed on the 5th July by the National Health Service Act, 1946 and the Children's
Act, 1948. The school medical, maternity and child welfare and ambulance services and child life
protection have passed to the County Council while the fever hospital is now under the control of the Regional
Hospital Board. The Borough Council's powers now in regard to "health" are nil and the Borough
has reverted to its 1875 status of "sanitary" authority.
For administrative purposes under the National Health Service Act, Middlesex County has been
divided into ten areas and the Borough along with the Boroughs of Southall and Brentford and Chiswick
constitute Area No. 9. An Area Committee consisting of representatives of the County Council, the three
Borough Councils, the College of Midwives, Hospital Management Committees, Local Dental Committee,
Local Medical Committee, Local Pharmaceutical Committee and a representative with knowledge of home
nursing is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the services except the mental health, ambulance
and "prevention of illness, care and aftercare" services which have not been delegated to the Area
Committees. Matters of policy, finance, etc., are controlled by the County Council and the powers of the
Area Committees are restricted to their terms of delegation and controlled by the County Council standing
orders, regulations and administrative methods. Working under the general direction of the County
Medical Officer of Health the Area Medical Officer is responsible to the Area Committee for the adminisstration
and supervision of the services in his area. I have been appointed Area Medical Officer for Area
No. 9 and the work of welding the services of the three Boroughs into a unit and changing over to the new
administrative methods has occupied much of my time and delayed the preparation of this Report.
The report, as far as the "transferred services" are concerned, covers the year up to 4th July only
and this should be borne in mind in any comparison with previous years.
The rise in the birth rate which followed the end of the war has not been maintained and the rate
for 1948 is approximately the same as in the immediate pre-war years. Only in 1938 (8.6) has a lower death
rate appeared in the Borough records. The low infant mortality rate of 30 is close to the 1946 record of
29. Scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, paratyphoid fever and dysentery were slightly more prevalent
than in 1947 but in no case reached epidemic proportions. Though there were fewer cases of poliomyelitis
the incidence was much higher than has been usual in the Borough and the continued prevalence is disquieting.
No outbreak of food poisoning was reported but evidence came to the Department in various
ways (and generally too late to take any action) to suggest that a number of minor outbreaks did occur.
During the year the Sanitary Inspectors gave special attention to premises used for the preparation and sale
of foods and ice-cream. Their steady efforts to preach the gospel of "clean food, cooked, stored and
packed in clean containers and touched only by clean hands" are meeting with some success and the public
could help considerably by insisting on these conditions.
I should like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to the staff of the Department for their
loyal co-operation, to the officers of other Departments for their help and to the Council for support and
encouragement.
I remain,
Your obedient Servant,
A. ANDERSON,
Medical Officer of Health.
5