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Mr. Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
In presenting the annual report upon the health of the Borough for the year
1962, I am glad to report that we have had a satisfactory record with regard to
vital statistics. Whilst mortality among the two main killing diseases—heart disease
and cancer—have shown an increase during the last ten years from 621 to 817 and
from 363 to 434, this would be in line with the ageing of the population. It is not
to be expected that we are likely to get a break-through on this front without further
results from the lines of research at present being made into the basic causes of
these conditions. On the other hand, the deaths from bronchitis, pneumonia and
accidents have remained almost unchanged during the last 10 years.
It is pleasant to be able to record an infant mortality rate of 12, a maternal
mortality rate of 0.34 and a complete absence of deaths from infectious diseases.
Looking back over the years, there is little doubt that the work of your former
Medical Officer of Health, Dr. T. Orr, in the field of milk pasteurisation, of which
he was a pioneer, has resulted throughout the country in a universal acceptance of
this practice. This has meant the virtual abolition of milk-borne diseases and an
enormous reduction of illness, particularly among children. It is a pleasure to
know that Dr. Orr is still enjoying a well-earned retirement, and Ealing has, through
his work and efforts, also secured a niche in the history of public health progress.
We are now well in the second year of our Day Treatment Centre established in
Han well in 1961. There seems every reason to believe that we are preparing a firm
base from which to tackle the grave problems of disablement in old age. The
enormous amount of satisfaction that is secured by a patients' feeling of gratitude
for their re-introduction to the routine of their own homes, through daily treatment
and follow-up, instead of long hospitalization, must be met to be believed. This is
indeed a satisfying service to staff, to relatives, and to the patients. We are learning
to feel our way to an organisation for dealing with a social problem which in the
past has been impossible to tackle with any real satisfaction. As for social services
for the aged, I would unhesitatingly place first our Incontinent Laundry Service,
small though the need may be, and secondly our Day Treatment Centre. All other
services for the aged seem indeed minor, though often satisfying to individuals.
We must face the need for integration into a normal social life for a percentage of
the elderly who, whilst disabled to some degree, need to be encouraged to take the
fullest possible part in the family life or the functioning of the community. This
activity of the mind so often runs parallel with the activity of the body that one is
often amazed to see the personality change that takes place among the disabled
elderly who have been put into a position of discard for years and then rehabilitated
over a month or two by the work of the Day Treatment Centre. A full description
of the Centre is included in this report for the information of the members of the
Council, and reprinted by permission of the Lancet.
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