[Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Chester R.D.C.

  • Chester (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Chester R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR CHESTER RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR 1971 To THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. Madam Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have pleasure in submitting the Annual Report on the health and sanitary condition of the Chester Rural District for the year 1971. The vital statistics appear in the body of the report and can be compared with the country as a whole. The corrected birth rate of 16.5 per thousand of the population is above the average for England and Wales, which is 16. The death rate of 10.0 per thousand compares favour- ably with that of 1 1.6 for England and Wales. I am pleased to report no infectious disease episode of note occurred during the year and notifications from general practitioners have been at a satisfactory low level. On the preventive side smallpox vaccination has been omitted from the immunisation schedule for infants, on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health and Social Services. All other immunisations remain unchanged with an uptake at a satisfactory level. County nursing staff have undergone re-training in prepar- ation for the computer-based Child Health programme, which begins in January 1972. The use of the County computer will enable health visitors and doctors to keep in touch with a much larger population than has been possible in the past. Previously the service has tended not to be used by sections of the population who really need it most. An additional advantage of the computer is that it will be used to record children who are handicapped. This informat- ion can then be used by the Health Department to advise Education and Social Services Department of the need for special facilities. In the past such information has not only been unreliable, but often arrived too late. I think we can consider ourselves fortunate that Cheshire is one of the pioneers in the application of computers to screening. Every effort has been taken to protect the confidentiality of all information and that it will only be available in statistical form for Departments outside that of Health. Page One