[Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough.

  • Swindon Borough Council
Date:
1967
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1967] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/86 page 4
    ANNUAL REPORT of the MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH To the Chairman and Members of the Health and Welfare Committee of the Borough of Swindon. I have much pleasure in submitting my report on the work of the Health and Welfare Department for the year 196?• The Registrar General’s estimate of the population of the town for mid 1967 is 97,920, as compared with 98,410 for 1966. This is explained by the fact that as slum clearance and central redevelopment progresses the families losing their old houses are rehoused in the new Council estates which are being developed outside the Borough boundary. The fact that young families are no longer coming in large numbers to the town is reflected in the birth rate. It will be seen from the table on Page 7 that for the first time since the town expansion started the Swindon birth rate instead of being considerably greater than England and Wales as a whole has dropped below the national figure of 17.2 to 16.66. The death rate remains remarkably constant and slightly lower than that for England and Wales as a whole. Again in 1967 the infant mortality rate remained almost the same as in 1966 and higher than that for England and Wales as a whole. The table on Page 8 shows how this rate has varied over the past ten years and in spite of detailed investigation no valid explanation has been elucidated. In spite of repeated advertisements for health visitors including the offer of housing and a motorcar we have been unable to recruit. It is now felt that we require about 20 health visitors if we axe to function satisfactorily in this facet of our work and to allow for attachment of them to general practitioners. As it is we have only seven whole time staff who are helped by clinic nurses and a part-time health visitor. A few years ago the domiciliary midwives attended almost as many confinements at home as took place in hospital. Now with the additional Maternity beds which were made available at Victoria Hospital only about 20% of Swindon babies are born at home. At the beginning of the year midwives were attached to general practitioners and this scheme is popular with both the doctors and midwives. The Seymour Clinic which opened in May 1966 has been developing to its full potential and is proving most successful and providing an excellent mental health service. All our Mental Health Officers work
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