[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Twickenham].

  • Twickenham (London, England). Borough Council.
Date:
[1955]
Catalogue details

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

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

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    offer their services. The response over the area has been most gratifying. More and more the practitioners are coming to realise the very important work which the health visitors are doing. One practitioner spent a whole day studying the work of the health visitors in the clinic and in the homes and wrote a very excellent account which was published in the British Medical Journal. But we still have a long way to go in the co-ordination of the three branches of the National Health Service. I often wish Area 10 with its 220,000 people was a county borough and had its own local authority powers. A local authority expects its work to be done accurately and properly and so does the public. When you think of the thousands of people who are interviewed, given advice, of the thousands of inspections which are made and decisions taken and then consider the shortness of the Health Committee meetings because of the rarity of anything controversial or wrong ever appearing, you will realise what great care is taken to keep things accurate, and for this we have to thank the staff. Officers in local government get few thanks; the annual report affords me an opportunity of thanking Dr. Cormack, Mr. Easter, Mr. Smith and Mr. Pugh for their unfailing loyalty and devotion to the service, for their trustworthiness and hard work; and also the other inspectors, the clerical and the outdoor staff. I beg to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Chairman and Members of the Public Health Committee for their helpfulness and support, which is always of the greatest encouragement. I desire also to acknowledge with thanks the friendly co-operation and help which I have always received from my colleagues in the other departments of the Corporation and the other members of the Council. I am, Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, JOHN MADDISON, Medical Officer of Health 3