[Report 1960] / School Medical Officer of Health, Dorset County Council.

  • Dorset (England). County Council.
Date:
1960
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1960] / School Medical Officer of Health, Dorset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    FOREWORD Dorset is a rural county of approximately one thousand square miles with a population density of less than 0.5 persons per acre. The atmosphere is free from industrial pollution, housing conditions are good and there is steady employment. As stated in my reports during recent years every effort has been made to protect the population against those infectious diseases which are preventable. As a result of these campaigns only one case of diphtheria and one of poliomyelitis were notified during 1960, the latter being a child on holiday from the midlands who had not been vaccinated. The number of cases of whooping cough decreased to the lowest figure on record, 110 with no deaths; there were only two maternal deaths and the infant mortality rate of 19.9 compared favourably with the corresponding national figure of 21.7. School children are healthier, more robust and pay more attention to their personal hygiene than ever before. All these factors should help to make a healthier and happier community but it is disturbing to note that the cost of medicines prescribed by the general medical practitioners in the county average £50,000 per month compared with approximately half this sum in 1956. Also the county ambulance vehicles travelled 1,128,184 miles, an increase of one third over mileage covered ten years ago in spite of a reduction in dead mileage by means of radio control. It is difficult to give reasons for the steadily increasing use of the general practitioner and hospital services which appears to be taking place but it is clearly desirable that every effort should be made to achieve the closest possible co-operation between the various branches of the health service so that preventive measures may be applied where possible; local health authorities with their wide and long experience have much to offer in this field. The inference to be drawn from the increased use of the ambulance service is that attendances at psy- chiatric, orthopaedic and physiotherapeutic clinics are increasing rapidly and it may well be that this is associa- ted with a substantial increase in psychosomatic illness. If so the local health authorities are directly concerned as the Mental Health Act, which became law during the year, gave a wider mandate in regard to community care. This whole problem is receiving careful attention and I shall be referring to the matter again in my report on the current year. Once again I should like to record my thanks to the members of the Health and Social Services Commi- ttee, in particular to the Chairman Mr. Douglas Jackman, for their co-operation during the year and also the continued support of the staff of my department. County Medical Officer of Health. Health Department, County Hall, Dorchester, Dorset. July, 1961.