[Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Wellingborough U.D.C.

  • Wellingborough (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1958] / Medical Officer of Health, Wellingborough U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/60 (page 6)
    Telephone : Wellingborough 2446 (Office) Rushden 2810 (Home) Health Department, Swanspool, Wellingborough. ■June, 1959 To the Chairman and Members of the Wellingborough Urban District Council : Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present to you my Eleventh Annual Report on the Health and Sanitary Circumstances of the area for the year 1958. Before commenting on my report I should like to pay a brief tribute to the late Miss E. A. Horn, who died on the 11th February, 1959. Miss Horn was a member of the Health Committee for a number of years and took a keen interest in the health and wellare of the town. I always found her a good friend and appreciated her help and encouragement throughout the years. Once again the report is set out in sections and in this letter I should like to give a synopsis drawing attention to items of interest. In the first Section, A, the vital statistics for the year under review are given and it will be seen that the birth rate was 16.40 per thousand popula¬ tion, an increase on the previous year when it was 15.87. The death rate was higher than the previous year and was 14.13 per thousand population compared with 12.43 in 1957. Again the greatest cause of death was due to diseases of the heart and circulatory system and deaths caused by angina or coronary diseases numbered 69 which was an increase of 14 over the previous year. In Table No. 1, Section H, where a classification of causes of death is given, it is interesting to note that the number of males and females who died from this cause approximated. Coronary disease in the past has been much more common amongst males than females and one wonders how much this is due to the fact that the present day strain and stress of life falls almost as heavily on the female as the male. There was a slight fall in the number of deaths due to cancer, 62 compared with 68. Lung cancer deaths numbered 14 and was the same number as in the previous year. The Infant Mortality rate was 14.49 per thousand live births and wa« lower than in the previous year when it was 19.48. From Table No. 4 it will be seen that this is the second lowest rate recorded since 1946. Deaths from Tuberculosis were two which is the same as in the previous year. Section B gives information concerning the Health Services available for the area. During the period an approach was made to the Regional Hospital Board with a view to the provision of extra out-patient facilities in Wellingborough. Although at present the Board cannot see their way to providing such clinics, as they state these peripheral clinics have their dis¬ advantages, the matter will be kept under consideration. In my opinion this matter should be pursued by the Council in the future as from our point of view the advantages of such clinics would appear to be more important than the disadvantages, and the case for Wellingborough is a border-line one. In Section C, which deals with the Sanitary Circumstances of the district, reference is made to atmospheric pollution. This subject has had a consider¬ able amount of publicity in recent years and has made us all conscious of