[Report 1939-1940] / Medical Officer of Health, West Bridgford U.D.C.

  • West Bridgford (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1940
Catalogue details

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

Credit: [Report 1939-1940] / Medical Officer of Health, West Bridgford U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/4
    URBAN DISTRICT OP WEST BRIDGFORD. INTERIM ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR THE YEARS 1~939, & 1 9W Council Offices, The Hall, West Bridgford. To the Chairman and Members of September, 1941* the West Bridgford Urban District Councils Gentlemen, In accordance with the advice of the Minister of Health, contained in Circulars 2067 and 2314# dated 19th July, 1940 and 26th March, 1941? respectively, only a brief interim report is submitted for the years 1939 and 1940, to be followed after the termination of the war by a report dealing more fully with the period from the beginning of 1939 to the end of the last complete year, giving separate statistics for each year, in order that the annual records may, as far as practicable, be continuous and complete. The Minister advises that the interim reports should be confined to essential and urgent matters arising from or connected with the war, outbreaks of infectious disease, and any exceptional administrative measures taken or recommended by the Medical Officer of Health, I am glad to be able to state that no epidemic (other than measles) has occurred locally and that in spite of the disturbance of normal routine no very exceptional circumstance affecting the health of the people has arisen. In view of the fact that no figures are given in my quarterly reports to the Health Committee from which members could obtain a knowledge of the vital statistics for the year I have thought it advisable to include some of the usual vital statistics and other relative information in this report* I beg to refer members to the Annual Report for 1938 for comparison, especially to the table on page 7? giving the figures for the previous ten years. It will be noticed that the death rate for West Bridgford for 1940 does not reflect the national increase (to the highest figure since the influenza epidemic of 1918) which was in part due to the increased mortality during the severe weather of the first quarter of that year. The year 1939 saw the completion of twenty houses at Wilford, built to accommodate tenants displaced from unfit houses. This was West Bridgford’s first programme under the ’’Slum Clearance” Acts, the prevailing high standard having made previous action unnecessary. Public Health legislation during the period hardly requires mention. The Food and Drugs Act, 1938, came into force on 1st October, 1939, and the essential new work under the Act, such as registration of food premises, was carried through by Mr. Eckersley, the Sanitary Inspector. In October, 1939> Measles and Whooping Cough rare mad~ ~ .xx^aole diseases.