[Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council.

  • Cumberland (England). County Council.
Date:
1952
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    at Penrith. Our clinic at Penrith—the first to be estab- lished in the county—which is a converted private dwelling, has now been in operation for 40 years, and clearly requires replacement. I am far from satisfied with the buildings associated with this department which we use in Whitehaven. These are the divisional office, the principal clinic for the area at Sandhills Lane and the subsidiary clinic at 10 Scotch Street which is at present used as an occupation centre, as a child guidance centre and for other purposes. These premises are far from adequate, are cramped and inconvenient, and I venture to suggest that the time has now come when a scheme for the erection of modern buildings for all the above purposes on the site at Flatt Walks, which is a good site and central, should be considered and, I would hope, approved in principle. Nothing, of course, can be done in the current financial year because there is no provision in the estimates, but I would hope that in the next financial year it might be possible to make a start. I would venture to remind you that our requests for new buildings for the work of this department have been extremely moderate. Within the last 20 years we have only asked for new clinics at Aspatria, Egremont, and more recently at Millom, and for the provision of a handful of houses for our district nurses. It is, there- fore, with some confidence, even in view of the current financial position, that I venture to submit the Flatt Walks development scheme. Thanks I have again to record my thanks to the members of my staff for the way in which they have carried out their duties during the year, and to the members of the Council, and particularly the chairman and members of the Health Committee, and its sub-committees, for their active and continuing interest in all branches if the work. The preparation of a report of this kind is neces- sarily a complicated business and I have to depend on help from many sources in its compilation. Each year I am indebted to the Clerk of the County Council, the County Treasurer and the County Architect for their help in the sections on water and sewage, finance and