[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham].

  • West Ham (London, England). County Borough.
Date:
[1948?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for West Ham]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of 1946. Some of these could doubtless be explained by the rather severe extremes of weather which were experi enced both in the winter and the summer of the year. None gave cause for any serious alarm. The principal items of interest in the sanitary section were the institution of an intensive scheme for rodent control and the difficulties occasioned by the flooding of the Lea Valley Waterworks early in the year. For a time the service provided by this section was seriously embarrassed by numerous staff changes, principally among the Sanitary Inspectors. The position appeared to have become much more stable, however, towards the end of the year. Turning now to the personal health services, it is possible to record some advances despite the preoccupation of preparing Proposals required by the National Health Service Act 1946 for submission to the Ministry of Health. A Home Help Organiser was appointed and a start made in building up the service on a basis of whole-time and regular part-time home helps. The Maternity and Child Welfare Clinics, which had been staffed partly by whole-time medical officers and partly by general practitioners, were re-organised to permit of the antenatal clinics being staffed by whole time medical officers of appropriate seniority employed at the Council's Maternity Unit at Forest Gate Hospital, an additional appointment being made to cover this extra commitment. In this way the clinics came to be conducted by obstetricians of experience concurrently engaged in prac tical midwifery. Health Visitors continued to give assistance as before, and the Senior Assistant Medical Officer for Maternity and Child Welfare remained in administrative charge to ensure the preservation of their important public health functions. The clinical direction, however, became the responsibility of the Medical Superintendent, who is also the Senior Obstetrician, of the Hospital. In the School Health Service, specialist clinics were opened for ear, nose and throat ailments and paediatrics, each under the charge of a whole-time specialist with beds at Whipps Cross Hospital into which he could admit children as necessary under his own care. Further details will be found on pages 64 and 71. 4