[Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Mirfield U.D.C.

  • Mirfield (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Mirfield U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/68 (page 9)
    Towards the end of the year Local Health Authorities were em¬ powered to provide chiropody services for aged persons, physically handicapped persons, and expectant mothers, and whatever the diffi¬ culties likely to be met in other areas it was felt that in Mirfield, thanks to the very fine service built up by the voluntary Old People's Welfare Committee in close collaboration with the Health Department over the years, the transition and the expansion of the service could be accom¬ plished in a smooth and beneficial way acceptable to all. Later experi¬ ence has proved this to be the case. To mention all the matters of policy, of review of services, and of impending change would be tedious and out of place in this introductory statement, but it would be an obvious ommission to fail to mention the imminent visit of the Boundary Commissioners to the West Riding Special Review Area, the implications of which have been uppermost in the minds of the Council and its officials for some time. I must of course comment only on the areas and services with which I am inti¬ mately concerned. I believe that the County Council Health Services in the area are good and without obvious gaps. I believe that the District Council is progressive in health matters and that it has an efficient health department. Nevertheless I firmly believe in the principle of local responsibility and local interest fostered by responsi¬ bility, and I feel that planning, policy, integration of services and administrative decisions can be more quickly effected, and effectively applied, in a system of one tier administration than in two tier adminis¬ tration with or without delegation. Delegation of day to day adminis¬ tration to Councils or Committees without financial and planning responsibility, unless interpreted in the widest and most liberal sense, appears to me to be little more than paying lip service to the idea of local responsibility. However, systems of local government administration are dependent to a very large extent upon circumstances of geography and of population and it would be wrong of me to express an opinion as to whether the needs of all the people in this and adjoining areas, in relation to health and related services, would be better served by one integrated Health Department of a single all purpose authority. The statistics for the year are exceptionally good and in certain respects have seldom been better. For the third year running the Infant Mortality Rate (10-6) is less than half than that for the adminis¬ trative County. The neo-natal mortality rate was nil and for the first time ever there were no still births. There were only two infant deaths during the year and both strangely enough were caused by accidental suffocation. The birth rate increased this year to a level comparable with the average for other areas and there was an excess of 37 births over the number of deaths recorded. The general mortality rate (13-1) was not significantly higher than that for similar areas throughout the County and except for deaths from disease of the heart and circulation there was no single cause of death which compared unfavourably with the average of other areas. The various immunisation procedures show a satisfactory level in the child population, but in spite of much propaganda the uptake of poliomyelitis vaccination in persons between 16 and 40 years is dis¬ appointing and may possibly prove to be dangerously low. The rational¬ ised scheme for immunisation procedures shows that it is now considered