[Report 1961] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, East Riding of Yorkshire County Council.

  • East Riding of Yorkshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1961
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1961] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, East Riding of Yorkshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/102 (page 1)
    To the Chairman and Members of the County Council. Sir John Dunnington-Jefferson, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, The year was another one of steady expansion, the main interest being centred on the steps taken to implement the scheme approved for the development of the mental health section. In this section at long last a suitable site has been found and purchased in Driffield for the building of a junior training centre and residential hostel. Pending the building of this centre and an adult centre at Beverley, an increased number of mentally sub-normal children and adults have been found places in centres provided by neighbouring authorities. For the care of the mentally ill an additional social club has been opened in Bridlington, and the number of patients referred to the mental welfare officers for supportive visits has more than doubled compared with the previous year. These officers are now achieving a very satisfactory and close co-ordination with the staffs of the hospitals and with the psychiatrists and this is proving to be of increasing value to the domiciliary care of the patients concerned. The Census taken in the early part of 1961 gave a population of the Administrative County of 223,783, that is somewhat less than the estimated population for 1960. The estimated population of 224,510 for mid-1961 was therefore only slightly higher than the estimated figure for 1960. The birth rate again rose and reached 15*9 per thousand population, the highest rate since 1949. The death rate also rose from 12-2 to 13-1 per thousand population and once again 49% of deaths occurred in people aged over 75. The infant mor- tality rate fell to 17 per thousand live births, the lowest rate on record, but the stillbirth rate rose slightly to 18-7 per thousand total births from the low record of 17-2 in 1960. Among the infectious diseases there were welcome falls in the numbers of cases of scarlet fever and whooping cough. The number of cases of measles was expected to be much higher than the low figure for 1960, but the disease was much more widespread than was anticipated and in the final event over 4,000 cases were notified— the largest number since the disease became notifiable in 1940. In September and early October an outbreak of poliomyelitis in