[Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Oxfordshire County Council.

  • Oxfordshire (England). County Council. n 81006935.
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Oxfordshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/44 (page 1)
    HEALTH DEPARTMENT PARK END STREET OXFORD To the Chairmen and Members of the Health Committee and Education Committee MY LORDS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I have the honour to present the annual report for the year 1959. The trends of the vital statistics conform to previous years. The birth rate of 18.9 is the highest since 1948 and is well above the national figure. The infant mortality rate is 19.9, as compared with the national figure of 22.0. The death rate of 9.9 per thousand is below the national average of 11.6. Only 8 deaths were attributed to pulmonary tuberculosis, whereas cancer of the lung was responsible for 73 deaths. Approximately 75 per cent of mothers in Oxfordshire go to hospital for their confinements. This high proportion more than satisfies the re¬ quirements of the Cranbrook Committee, but it also results in difficulty in providing domiciliary midwives with adequate experience, and, in some areas, in the recruitment of nursing staff. In dealing with the problem of shortage of home nurses, the Committee have decided to review their policy relating to training district nurses, nurses’ houses, cars, equip¬ ment, and the areas which have to be served. As a result, it is hoped that the present serious shortage and lack of younger staff will be overcome in the future. Reference is made in the report to the numbers of persons protected against specific infections by vaccination and immunisation. Prevention in this way has greatly reduced the need for curative medical services provided by the hospitals. The attitude of young people to immunisation against poliomyelitis suddenly changed from indifference at the beginning of the year to urgent demand in the early summer. Great strain was thrown on the clerical department, as well as the medical officers, in meeting this sudden change in attitude. Evening clinics for the public were set up at centres in the County, at some of which medical practitioners and medical officers were working together. By the end of the year, more than four out of every five children under fifteen had been protected and the great majority of registered young persons under twenty-five had received their three injections. This emphasis on protection against poliomyelitis should not detract from the need for protecting against diphtheria and smallpox. It is only by maintaining immunisation against these diseases at a high level that they have become as rare as they are today. A further attack on tubercu¬ losis, by extending the groups of persons eligible for vaccination against it, leads one to hope that this infection will suffer the same reduction in the future. The demands on the ambulance service have continued to increase. This increase is related to hospital policy in reducing admissions as much as possible by increasing out-patient clinics. Thus, in 1959, five thousand