[Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Oldham County Borough.

  • Oldham (England). County Borough Council. nb2004302054.
Date:
1969
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Oldham County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/238 (page 3)
    Department of Public Health, Oldham, October, 1970. To the Mayor, Aldermen and Members of the Borough Council, Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have pleasure in presenting my report on the health of the borough for the year 1969. As recommended in the Maud and Mallaby reports, a radical re¬ appraisal was made of the council’s committee structure and the organisa¬ tion of the various corporation departments. The Health Committee wa3 dissolved after the final meeting on May 1st, 1969, and reconstituted as the Health and Welfare Committee, the members of this committee also constituting the Children Committee. It is interesting to note that the Health Committee first appeared, as the Sanitary Committee, in 1873 and that the adverse conditions of the “health yard” at Rhodes Bank was recorded in the first agenda as well as in the last—such is progress! An officers’ management group was formulated with the Town Clerk as chief executive officer. The Medical Officer of Health was designated co-ordinator of the Health, Welfare and Children’s Departments. With the” accommodation of the Welfare Services Department in the same building as the Health Department, it was found possible to reorganise some of the administrative sections to serve both departments with consequent savings in staff. Further desirable amalgamations had to be deferred because of the impending legislation following the Seebohm report and the eventual appointment of a Director of Social Services under the Social Services Act will inevitably result in further change. The objective of providing the widest and most effective range of services within the financial constraints prevailing at the time, should not be lost sight of, and it must be remembered that whoever controls the social services, members and officers alike, are serving the corporation as a complete entity in the interests and benefit of the public. Interdepartmental rivalries have no place in this scheme of things and should be neither encouraged nor countenanced. At long last, work commenced on the erection of our first Health Centre and also on the new day nursery to replace Overens Street Nursery which is awaiting demolition. Advantage was taken under the second phase of the Urban Programme to make provision for the day care of children under the age of five who were in special need of such facilities. A survey was carried out by the health visitors to determine the areas of most need and subsequently proposals were submitted which are described in detail in the body of this report. During the summer, the authority was requested to provide facilities in a patient’s home to enable the hospital authorities to provide him with a kidney machine. He was then travelling some distance to a Manchester hospital where he spent up to three nights a week on the machine. It was felt that it would be more satisfactory if he could have a machine at home and it might then be possible for him to return to work. The request received speedy and sympathetic approval by your council and the neces¬ sary adaptations were carried out at a cost of some £600. Unfortunately to relate, the patient died from other causes, a short time after the installa¬ tion of the machine.