Leicester Corporation Health Records/Leicester Council Health Reports

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): L614

Title: Leicester Corporation Health Records/Leicester Council Health Reports

Date(s): 1965 - 1972

Level of description: Sub fonds

Extent and medium of the unit of description: 8 volumes

CONTEXT AREA

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CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: The annual reports on the health of the City of Leicester, compiled by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, provide information on the Leicester Corporation's assessment of health services arranged into the following 6 sections: (1) Vital Statistics (summary of statistics on population, birth rate and death rate, causes of death statistics, housing statistics, etc.); (2) Personal Health Services (e.g. Mental Health Services, Infant Mortality, Midwifery, Health Visiting, etc.); (3) Community Health (Epidemiology, TB, Vaccination and Immunisation); (4) Environmental Health (Water Supplies, Sewerage, Cremation, etc.); (5) School Health Services (General Statistical Information, School Dental Services, etc.); (6) Miscellaneous Services.
Published by the Health Department, Grey Friars, Leicester, each report contains an introductory letter by the Chief Medical Officer of Health giving a summary of the city's population structure and including statistics on ethnicity. However, in addition to the factual data the summaries contain arguably contentious interpretations of the statistics, particularly with regard to the impact of immigration on the overall health statistics. For example, the 1965 Report on the Chest Clinic makes reference to higher incidences of tuberculosis amongst members of the Asian communities than white, stating: The influx of immigrants from Asia in recent years has been the main factor in altering the position. They show an increased susceptibility to tuberculosis and a rather high incidence of the disease has been found among them during the year.
Similar statements continue throughout reports from 1965-1972. In particular the 1971 report contains evaluations of the health statistics that suggest Leicester's increasing cultural diversity is viewed as problematic. An extract from the Chief Medical Officer of Health's introduction states:
Over the centuries the characteristics of the population of this country have been undergoing change as a result of invasion and the arrival of immigrants from many parts of the world. But whereas in the past this was a slow process and often influenced only small sectors of the country, the past decade has been marked by substantial alterations in the proportion of the various ethnic groups making up the population of many cities and towns in this country. Furthermore the distribution of immigrants has not been uniform and thus certain towns and even certain areas of towns have shown a remarkably quick change in the age structure and characteristics of the population within the boundaries. This has led to marked effect on housing morbidity and mortality...
The letter concludes, We are faced with a number of health problems - high density housing, a multi-racial population, a steadily mounting geriatric population...
Similarly, the report of 1972 expresses further statements about the impact of immigrant communities on Leicester's health expenditure, as shown in the following extract: ...the changing pattern of demand on public services will inevitably necessitate increased expenditure, for Leicester is faced with the ingredients necessary for the creation of major problems -- a high proportion of old people, large numbers of handicapped and a substantial percentage of immigrants.

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System of arrangement: The records of the Leicester Corporation are divided into 6 main sections: (1) Council, Committee and Sub-Committee Minute Books of the Corporation of Leicester; (2) Architects, Attorneys, Business Plans; (3) Education, Electoral Registers, City Engineers Department; (4) Freemen's Admission Rolls, Fire Department, Health Management Services, Markets; (5) Museums, Quarter Sessions, Rating, Social Services; (6) Surveyors, Town Clerks, Treasurers, Water Department.

Within 'Health Management Services' the Corporation archive contains a series of reports filed by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, summarising statistical information about the city's birth and death rates and the population's use of personal, community and environmental health services.

Along with the census it is one of the few sources of official population statistics arranged into gender and ethnic groups.

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: Open access

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Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids: Printed catalogues

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

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DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

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Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

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Interest: Asian

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Subjects

Asian peoples

Population demography

Immigration

Health

Personal/Corporate names

Places

Leicester, United Kingdom