[Report 1963] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough.

  • Hastings (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1963
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1963] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/126 (page 3)
    Health Department, 44 Wellington Square, Hastings. August, 1964. To His Worship the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the County Borough of Hastings. Mr. Mayor. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present the Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health, Chief Welfare Officer and Principal School Medical Officer for the year 1963. The report presents a brief outline of the work carried out during the year by the department and indicates the main vital statistics for the County Borough. The statistics show that the general health of the community continues to be in every way satisfactory. The Registrar-General’s estimate of the mid-year resident population remains at 66,640, the same as the previous year. The detailed figures of the 1961 Census have now become available and certain of them are included in the section on Vital Statistics: these show that there were, in 1961, 16,127 residents aged 65 and over, 10,882 females and 5,245 males, and that this age-group forms 24.2% of the whole population locally. They also show that the proportion of females to males over the whole age range is 4 to 3, whilst in the 65 and over group, it is 2 to 1. The death rate corrected by the Registrar-General’s comparability factor of 0.55 was 11.7 per thousand comparing with 12.32 locally in 1962 and with a national 1963 rate of 12.2. The actual number of deaths was 1,424 (1,351 in 1962), 599 males and 825 females, 83.4% being over 65 years of age and 59.6% being over 75. The main causes of death were disease of the heart and circulatory system 56.2%, cancer (all sites) 16.0% and respiratory diseases (other than cancer or tuberculosis) 15.1%. Deaths certified as due to lung cancer again increased to a new high level 60. The birth rate (crude rate 13.6, corrected rate 17.3, national rate 18.2) showed a further small increase on 1962 (12.7, 14.8, 18.0 respectively). The number of live births 910 includes 83 illegitimate births, an illegitimacy rate of 9.1, slightly higher than last year. Stillbirths at 17, stillbirth rate 18.3, also were an increase over 1962, passing the national stillbirth rate of 17.3. The infant mortality rate 15.3 (14 deaths under one year of age) showed a welcome decrease (17.6) and compares with a national rate of 20.9 per thousand live births. It is of interest that the infant mortality rate amongst illegitimate babies was as low as 12.0 per thousand. The neonatal death rate (deaths under four weeks of age per thousand live births) was 9.8 (national 14.2): the perinatal mortality rate (number of stillbirths and deaths under one week of age per thousand total live and stillbirths) was 25.8. The maternal mortality rate (deaths of mothers due to childbearing and childbirth) was nil. The work of the many services provided by the Local Health Authority is dealt with section by section in the body of the report. The general picture remains the same, a satisfactory service being given despite continuing and unremitting pressure of demand. The Infant Welfare Centres again were extensively used, and the toddlers’ sessions with the “birthday examination’’