[Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Torquay Borough.

  • Torquay (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Torquay Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Tel. Torquay / 88204 \ 88205 St. Maryctiurch Town Hall, Torquay. To the Worshipful the Mayor and to the Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Torquay. Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the year 1958, which is detailed in form and sequence in accordance with the instructions of the Minister of Health. The year was a very healthy one for the residents of Torquay, the incidence of infectious disease being very low, and there being a reduction in the Death Rate. There were only 114 cases of infec¬ tious disease notified apart from Tuberculosis. It may he noted, howrever, that although only 5 cases of pneumonia were notified, no less than 22 persons died from this disease, so that the picture pre¬ sented by the number of notified cases of infectious disease is not entirely accurate. The number of new cases of pulmonary tuber¬ culosis shows a very slight increase over last year’s when these were the lowest number of cases ever recorded. When we consider the efficiency of modern methods of diagnosis and case finding such as the Mass Miniature Radiography Service, and the tuberculin testing of school children, the fact that they are able to discover so few cases makes one feel fairly satisfied with the position. Nevertheless, there must still be in the community quite a number of persons suffering from tuberculosis whom the X-Ray Units never see because they do not come forward for voluntary examination, and these people continue to be a source of infection and danger to their relatives, friends and indeed the community as a whole. With the wonderful advances which have been made in the treatment of tuberculosis, a complete cure is normally to be expected, and one feels that if only these people who do not attend for X-Ray through fear of what might be found were to realise that a regular chest X-Ray may be the means of saving their own life and the lives and health of their families then we would really come near to eradicating this community disease. With regard to the vital statistics, there was an increase in the birth rate from 10.92 to 11.89 per 1,000 population, but this is still low even when adjusted to allow for the age and sex distribution of the population, and when compared with the national birth rate. The adjusted rate for Torquay was 13.08 per thousand, while the national birth rate in 1958 was 16.64. There was a reduction in the number of deaths and consequently a reduction in the death rate, which fell slightly from 16.65 per 1,000 population to 15.94. This appears to be very high when compared with the national death rate