[Report 1968] / Medical Officer of Health, Derbyshire County Council.

  • Derbyshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1968
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1968] / Medical Officer of Health, Derbyshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/136 (page 7)
    Personal considerations often warp judgement, and sometimes changes envisaged may be advantageous to some councillors and staff but disadvantageous to others. Nevertheless, it would be well to bear in mind the words of Thomas Carlyle who said “Change indeed is painful; yet ever needful . . In whichever direction one looks these days the world seems to be in a state of flux, and it is well to hold fast to principles which have stood the test of time in direct- ing our steps towards the future. As I write this introductory letter it seems that the publication of the Royal Commission’s Report on Local Government in England has given rise to much contention, and I only hope that the words of William Carleton (1794-1869) do not prove to be true:— “We arg’ed the thing at breakfast. We arg’ed the thing at tea. And the more we arg’ed the question. The more we didn’t agree.” The Birth Rate and Death Rate from all causes per 1,000 of the population (which was estimated by the Registrar-General in mid- 1968 to be 667,660) were respectively 16-63 and 12-63. (The corres- ponding rates for England and Wales (provisional) were 16-9 and 11 -9). The falling national birth rate has reached its lowest level since 1959. The Infant Mortality rate was 17-58 deaths under one year of age per 1,000 live-births, compared with 17-53 last year. (The provisional figure for England and Wales was 18 0). The Table on page 14 sets out the figures for Derbyshire since 1930; your attention is also drawn to the tables on page 15 relating to neo-natal and early neo-natal mortality, as well as to the comments on perinatal mortality. The late Professor W. C. W. Nixon, Professor of Obstetrics at University College Hospital, London, said “The first day of life is the most dangerous day, and there are more deaths then than between one and twenty-five years”. The Maternal Mortality rate was 0-087 per 1,000 live- and still- births, comparable with 0-15 last year. These two rates respectively represent one death and two deaths from this cause. The table on page 41 shows the mortality over the past eighteen years. (For England and Wales the rate was 0-24 (provisional)). The percentage of Illegitimate Births was 6-77. (The figures since 1965 have been 4-95; 5-38; 5-46 and 6-77). There were 8,145 deaths compared with 7,876 in the previous year. Of the 8,145 deaths, 111 were certified as being due to chronic rheumatic heart disease, 172 to hypertensive disease, 1,966 to ischaemic heart disease, and 455 to other forms of heart disease. Cerebrovascular disease was the cause of death in 1,202 instances. During the year there were 1,434 deaths which were certified as being due to malignant disease: the lesion was in the stomach in 177