The incidence and causes of blindess in England and Wales, 1948-1962 / Arnold Sorsby.

  • Great Britain. Ministry of Health.
Date:
1966
Catalogue details

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

Credit: The incidence and causes of blindess in England and Wales, 1948-1962 / Arnold Sorsby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/96 (page III)
    PREFACE Three reports on the causes of blindness, prepared by Professor Arnold Sorsby, have been pubHshed in the last fifteen years: one by the Medical Research Council and two by the Ministry of Health. Interim analyses of certificates of blindness and of partial sight have been published since 1952 in the Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer. In the report which follows Professor Sorsby has consohdated the studies from the period 1948 to 1962. As the years have passed, the information obtainable from these certificates has become progressively more complete, and since 1955 they have been provided by consultants in ophthalmology. Of course the registers do not include every person who is bUnd or partially sighted, but there is good reason to believe that the number not so recorded has been decHning in recent years. It is therefore a welcome finding in this present report that the numbers on the blind register are not now rising in proportion to the numbers of old people in the population, and in Section 3 of this report Professor Sorsby attributes this to the action taken through the National Health Service to provide, and to provide earlier, treatment for cataract. Indeed, in this Section, Professor Sorsby discusses one of the few examples in our health statistics of objective evidence in support of our belief that the National Health Service is progressively improving the health of the population. It seems that we need no longer fear the great increase in the blind population that had been forecast earlier, biit nonetheless this report, like its predecessors, points to the need for continued effort both to reduce the incidence of blindness and to secure earlier treatment for those conditions which can be treated. In particular it underlines our ignorance of the aetiology of most blindness. Professor Sorsby has made a contribution of great value to ophthalmology and our social services in the work he has undertaken in analysis of these certi¬ ficates. I gladly pay a special tribute to him for the assistance he has given to the Ministry of Health over a period now approaching twenty years. G. E. Godber, Chief Medical Officer. iii