[Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Wight County Council.

  • Isle of Wight (England). County Council. n 83204987.
Date:
1967
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Wight County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/72 page 6
    REPORT on the Health, Welfare and School Health Services in the Isle of Wight for the year 1967. To the Chairman and Members of the Health and Welfare Committee of the Isle of Wight County Council. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present my Report for the year 1967 on the health and welfare services of the County Council. In the same volume is my report to the Education Committee on the School Health Services which was presented to that Committee earlier in the year. Reports on the public health functions of the district councils are of course, printed and issued separately by the Medical Officers of Health of the six districts. The Registrar General’s mid-1967 estimate of the population of the County was 98,040. The 1966 Ten Per Cent Sample Census showed a population of 97,810 compared with the 1961 Census figure of 95,752. Females exceeded males by about 5 to 4 and 19.9 per cent were aged 65 and over. This is shown par- ticularly in the demand for nursing, health visiting, home help, ambulance and hospital car services. The 1,386 live births of which 1,055 took place in hospital, was a decrease of 81 on the previous year and gave a live birth rate of 14.1 per 1,000 population (England and Wales 17.2). 69 live births were premature and 42 babies were notified to the Ministry as having congenital malformations. There were 4 fewer stillbirths than in 1966, giving a stillbirth rate of 10.0 per 1,000 (England and Wales 14.8 per 1,000). 139 (9.9 per cent) of the live and stillbirths were illegitimate, a decrease of 3 on 1966. The perinatal mortality rate (stillbirths and deaths under one week) was 18.6 (England and W'ales 25.4) and represents 26 deaths and stillbirths, 17 less than the previous year. Total deaths exceeded births by 95 but were 26 fewer than last year. The main causes were cerebro- vascular and cardiac conditions and cancer. There were no maternal deaths. Two children of school age died of malignant diseases and two from road accidents. There were no major outbreaks of infectious diseases. Measles notifications totalled 1,013 compared with 502 the previous year and 1,354 in 1965. The 15,248 attendances at Council infant welfare centres was a slight decrease but more family doctors are holding “well-baby” sessions. The new arrange- ments for general practitioners to carry out the vaccinations and immunisations of their own patients came into operation in April. The total number of doses of the various vaccines against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio- myelitis were 2,684 primary and 3,938 reinforcing, compared with 2,823 and 4,195 in the previous year. Vaccinations and re-vaccinations against smallpox totalled 1,023 compared with 898 in 1966. Under the Council’s services for prevention and after-care, arrangements were in hand at the end of the year for a limited chiropody service in Lake. Cervical cytology and family planning sessions were held regularly throughout the year on County Council premises, in addition to services by family doctors. In the year ended March 1968 the ambulance and hospital car services covered 479,705 miles, an increase of 37,621 miles on the previous year, conveying 86,745 patients, an increase of 5,221 patients, and representing 884 patients per 1,000 population. The figure for the previous year was 840 compared with the average for all authorities in 1966 of 449. In the home help services also there was an increase in demand. The total number of cases and the number of new requests dealt with increased by 7 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
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