[Report 1947] / Medical Officer of Health, Oldham County Borough.

  • Oldham (England). County Borough Council. nb2004302054.
Date:
1947
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1947] / Medical Officer of Health, Oldham County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    10,000 houses to be scheduled for demolition under the Housing Acts and at least half of this number can be regarded as being totally unfit for human habitation and only fit for immediate demolition. Early in the year the formulation of the proposals under the National Health Service Act was commenced and these are briefly detailed at the end of the report. The proposals as approved by the Ministry of Health will be fully printed in the Annual Report for next year and only brief mention is made of them at this stage. New responsibilities will come to the Health Committee—the administration of the Ambulance Service, the Mental Health Service, the Home Nursing Service and at some future date the provision of Health Centres. When preparing the propo¬ sals the first duty was to review the existing services and then to formulate proposals on the lines laid down by the Ministry of Health. It was indeed gratifying to find with regard to the Midwives Service, Ambulance Service, Vaccination and Immunisation Service, that this Authority had anticipated and was already providing services which needed little, if any, alteration, and in the case of the other services, only minor extensions. Mr. H. A. Lord, the Lay Administrative Officer, and Miss R. L. Holt, a member of the clerical staff, were successful in gaining the B.A. (Admin.) of the Manchester University and deserve our sincere congratulations. A number of staff changes occurred during the year, Dr. J. H. Hilditch was appointed Assistant Medical Officer of Health in February and Dr. J. L. Hill, Temporary Senior Assistant Medical Officer of Health in May, on the recruitment of Dr. J. Starkie to H.M. Forces. In July, Dr. F. A. Williams joined the staff as Assistant Medical Officer of Health for Maternity and Child Welfare. In December, Mr. Lord resigned his appointment as he had decided to emigrate to Canada with his family. Mr. F. Standring was appointed to succeed him as Lay Administrative Officer. Mr. Lord joined the Department in November, 1940, and was the first Lay Administrative Officer to be appointed following a re-organisation of the Medical and Senior Administrative staff. He came to the Department at a most difficult time and proved that the new arrangement was highly successful and the efficiency of the Department was increased. The Committee recorded their appreciation of the services he had rendered to the Department. Mr. J. Butterworth, the Maintenance Officer, left in December having been appointed to the Maintenance staff of the Manchester University. The Committee decided not to fill this post in view of the transfer of the Hospital Services in the near future. In November, Councillor Bannon ceased to be a member of the Health Committee as also did Mrs. Morrell and Messrs. Glover and Simpson who ceased to be members of the Council. I wish to record my appreciation of the willing co-operation these members always gave to myself and my staff. I wish to tender my sincere thanks to the Chairman and Members of the Public Health Committee and the Maternity and Child Welfare Sub-Committee for their continued support and encouragement. My thanks are also due to all members of the staff for their loyal co-opera¬ tion and assistance during a difficult year. I have the honour to be, Your obedient Servant, J. T. CHALMERS KEDDIE. Medical Officer of Health.