[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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    these 3 cases was a maternal death as that phrase is generally understood. It has been my custom, since the National Health Service Act of 1946 came into operation in July 1948, to divide the annual report on the health services into two sections, the first dealing with services as they fall into the various sections of Part III. of the Act, and the second section dealing with individual services which do not appropriately so fall, such as tuberculosis, cancer, milk and food, water and sewage, and so on. During 1952 the Ministry asked that an interim report should be prepared to be in their hands by the end of February, 1953. The instructions were that this interim report was to be incorporated in the normal annual report to be prepared later in the year. This, of course, is not so easy as it sounds. At the beginning of the year we have few statistics to go on, the picture is far from complete, and may well change materially by the time the normal annual report comes to be written during May or June. The Ministry’s headings under which they desired this advance report to be written did not in all respects synchronise with the sections of Part III. of the Act, and introduced new headings. All this, as will readily be understood makes the already cimplicated task of preparing the annual report still more complicated, and if discrepancies occur in this final document, due allowance must be made for the circumstances under which thest two reports have been written. The object of the Ministry in asking for an interim report seems to be quite clear. By July 1953 the Health Service will have completed its first five year period, and my guess would be that the Ministry desire to make the first quinquennial review of the operations of the National Health Service. Where necessary and appro- priate I have quoted the actual words from the Ministry’s directive, so that what has been written, which is naturally off the usual pattern, and why it has been written, may be clearly understood. Circular 29/52 from the Ministry which initiated this matter stated that “ the survey should deal with, though not necessarily be restricted to, the points mentioned in the appendix.” I took this to mean that the Ministry in desiring to take soundings of the operation of the National Health Service Act, did not wish the comments