[Report 1944] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough.

  • Smethwick (Worcestershire, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1944
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1944] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/34 (page 3)
    Coun^g QBoroug^ of Public Health Department, “The Uplands,’’ Hales Lane, Smethwich, December, 1945. To THE MaYOK, ALDEiBMEN AND COUNCILEOBS FOR THE County Borough of Smethwick. Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, The year 1944 was marked by few events of public health importance, and it will be remembered chiefly for the difficulties which had to be met and overcome in order to maintain even a minimum standard of efficiency. Shortage of staff, shortage of materials, and difficulties and irritations in an attempt to replace either of these seem to have been our chief pre-occupation during the year. There was more illness amongst the staff, a higher proportion was temporary and part-time, and there were innumerable changes amongst the latter. Nevertheless, it has been found possible to maintain our services almost in full, and a great volume of work has been achieved. The infant welfare sessions, which were 14 per week in 1938, are now 10, hut the total attendances of children under one year has actually increased. The number of visits to homes paid by our health visitors was one-third higher than in 1938, and both ante-natal and post-natal clinics are doing a considerably greater amount of work. Indeed it is surprising tO' note that the attendances at the Ante-natal Clinics which were just over 6,000 in the year before the war, were over 10,000 last year, and those at the Post-natal Clinic increased similarly by about 30 per cent. In 1938, the municipal midwives delivered 433 mothers; in 1944, the figure was 716. Similarly, in the same period, the numbers delivered in St. Chads increased from 426 to 639. In the tuberculosis department, there were 2,950 attendances in 1938. These rose to 4,540 in 1944, and the number of radiographs taken increased from 794 to 1,457. This increased volume of work was not encompassed without great difficulty, and no praise can be too high for the members of my staff, medical, nursing, administrative and clerical, who by their enthusiasm and hard work, made these results possible. It should not be forgotten that during the whole of 1944 we were at war, and therefore civil defence duties were carried out in addition to the ordinary work. Not only has there been no increase in staff for public health work, but in the case of doctors and clerks, there has been an actual decrease. In addition to the increase in our peacetime health activities, a very great amount of time has had to he spent on such wartime measures as rationing, coupons, points, etc., for our hospitals and clinics, and on the filling in of forms usually in duplicate or triplicate, at the behest of various government departments. VITAL STATISTICS. There were more births in Smethwick in 1944 than in any year since 1922, and the number of infant deaths was lower than in any previous year except 1941. The infant mortality rate was 45, which