[Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Midhurst R.D.C.

  • Midhurst (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Midhurst R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/50 (page 3)
    Health Department, Council Offices, Midhurst. July, 1949. To the Chairman and Members of the MIDHURST RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present to you the Annual Report on the health of the Midhurst Rural District and the work of the Public Health Department during the year 1948. This is the seventy-fifth report in the present series. The live births registered during the year numbered 248 or 15 less than in 1947. The birth rate of 15.00 per 1,000 is 1.71 less than that of the previous year, and compares with a national rate of 17.9. The illegi¬ timate live births numbered 15, which is a decrease of 4 when compared with 1947, and represents 6.04% of the total live births occurring during the year. The deaths numbered 194 or 13 more than in 1947, giving a death rate of 11.73 per 1,000 population as compared with 11.5 for the year 1947, and a national rate of 10.8. The Registrar-General’s estimate of the District’s population at mid-1948 is 16,530. This is an increase of 800 on that for mid-1947. It is important to remember that the annual fluctuations in birth and death rates of a small population such as that of this District must be considered in the light of the figures over a number of years before any conclusions as to population trends can be drawn. The variation due to chance in an annual total of about 200 deaths or births may appear to indicate a significant change when translated into a rate per thousand for a single year. Such a conclusion would not be justified unless maintained over a number of years. The Diphtheria Immunisation Campaign was continued throughout the year. It is estimated that at the 31st December, 1948, 80% of the children aged 5-15 years and 37.4% of those aged 1-5 years in the district had completed a course of immunisation. These figures are disappointing, especially in respect of the younger children. July 5th, 1948, was the appointed day for the National Health Service Act of 1946, and the changes in the administration of the Health Services which resulted are summarised in this report. Now that general medical treatment for children is available without payment of fees it seems likely that General Practitioners will be called to see mild cases of disease in children which have previously been treated at home without medical advice. Many cases of Measles and Whooping Cough have in previous years never been notified, simply because they have never been seen by a doctor. Under the new Health Service, therefore, it may be that the figures of notifications for these and other notifiable diseases will show a marked increase, not because more cases are occurring, but because a higher percentage of the cases are being seen by practitioners. Good progress in the provision of new housing accommodation has been made during the year ; 118 new Council Houses have been com¬ pleted and 14 houses provided by private enterprise. The figures given in the Rural Housing Survey completed during the year show how much remains to be done before the need for houses in the District will be satisfied.