[Report 1966] / Medical Officer of Health, Brighouse Borough.

  • Brighouse (England). Council. nb2008024084.
Date:
1966
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1966] / Medical Officer of Health, Brighouse Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/88 (page 7)
    TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COLNaLLORS OF THE BOROLGH OF BRIGHOLSE Mr. Mayor. Ladies and Gentlemen, 1 have the honour to present the Annual Report on the health of the Borough for 1966. 1 was appointed to the position of Medical Officer of Health for the Borough in October, when the County Council amalgamated the Brighouse and Todmorden Health Divisions to form an enlarged Division consisting of eight District Councils and comprising the whole of the catchment area of the Halifax Hospital Group, other than Halifax County Borough. Under the Divisional Health Scheme, your Medical Officer of Health is also the Divisional Medical Officer for the West Riding County Council’s Local Health Services, and this Scheme has led to the close integration of Local Authority Health Services. The Service in Brighouse has been working under a severe handicap in the past in that the Divisional Office and the Clinics have been housed in three separate buildings. However, the new Divisional Health Office was nearing completion at the end of the year and when it comes into operation it will provide adequate accommodation for both the local Clinic Services and the administration for at least the former Brighouse Health Division. The population of Brighouse continued to increase during the year, and the Registrar General estimated that the mid-year population was 32,340. which is 160 more than the previous year and represents an increase of over 1,000 in the past five years. For each of the past three years, more than 600 babies have been born in the Borough, and the adjusted birth rate has been 20 per thousand or more. This is a very high figure for West Yorkshire, and is, in fact, considerably higher than the figures recorded even in the post-war period. Both the stillbirth rate and the infant mortality rate are satisfactory, and for the fifteenth successive year no maternal deaths have been recorded. The adjusted death rate was 12.3 which is an average figure for the Borough. Of the 406 deaths, it is disturbing to note that 109 took place under sixty-five years of age. By far the commonest cause of death amongst people of this age was Disease of the Coronary Arteries, followed by Vascular Lesions of the Nervous System, Cancer of the Lung, Bronchitis and motor vehicle accidents. In 1966, the most prevalent infectious di,sease was Measles, of which 347 cases were notified. No deaths were recorded from Measles, and it is usually regarded as one of the inevitable infections of child- hood. It causes parents much concern; in an epidemic year it takes up a lot of the General Practitioners’ time, and recent research suggests that its complications may be more frequent and more severe than has been suspected in the past. A Measles vaccine has now been fully tested and is available on prescription for any child whose General Practitioner recommends should have this protection. As yet, there is no general approval for Measles vaccine, but experience in other countries suggests that this disease could be virtually eliminated.