[Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Ashton-under-Lyne Borough.

  • Ashton-under-Lyne (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Ashton-under-Lyne Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/56 (page 3)
    Market Place, Asht on-under-Iyne. TO THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE BOROUGH OF ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE. Mr. Mayor, Mr.Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have much pleasure in presenting the report on the Health of the Borough for the year 1971* This was a Census year, and the figures from it show that the population of Ashton-under-Iyne at the time of the Census was 48,865, an increase of 1,000 over the estimated population for 1970. Over recent years the estimated population given to us by the Registrar General has tended to show a decrease, where- as in fact the general impression gained was that if anything, the population was steady or even increasing. Thus the Census figures tended to confirm our suspicions. There were 671 deaths in the year, a decrease of 90 over the previous year, and the number of births was up by almost 70. In my introductory letter to last year's report, I commented on the fact that the infant mortality rate was just about double the national average. I am pleased to report that this year the infant mortality rate is below the national average, and is in fact probably the lowest it has ever been in Ashton. Whilst it is dangerous to make assumptions from statistics based on comparatively small populations, the figures for the surrounding area in the South- East Lancashire Area (Health Division 17) are also 17 per thousand live-births, which suggests that there probably is a real improvement. It is quite likely that next year the figure will be up again but the general trend by averaging periods of two or three years at a time suggests that the infant mortality rate is falling. During the year there were 230 cases of measles notified and 13 cases of infective hepatitis. Unfortunately the figure for tuberculosis notifications was still rather high and there were twice as many cases of tuberculosis notified in 1971 as were notified in 1970. There has been a tendency to cut down on services provided by the Mass Miniature Radiography Unit throughout the country, but it would appear from those figures that there is still a need in this part of Lancashire for the services of the Unit, both in conducting factory surveys and open sessions for the general public. Whilst the figures were not very high, one would wish to see them decreasing rather than increasing. You will find in the tables which follow, the statistics for the infectious diseases, and for deaths classified under the Registrar-General's abridged list of causes. These are self-explanatory.