[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Greenwich Borough].

  • Greenwich (London, England). Metropolitan Borough.
Date:
[1952]
Catalogue details

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

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

    11/134 (page 7)
    7 The Chest Physician has given me an excellent account of the work done at the Chest Clinic and this is included in the body of the report. I have also included an account of the visit of the mass miniature radiography unit and the figures indicate the value of this screening measure. I wish a larger proportion of the population had made use of the facilities. Deaths from Cancer have increased by 32 to 198. An increase in the deaths from Cancer of the lung and bronchus has been estab lished and I have discussed this fact at length in the report. Indeed the increase since 1946 has been remarkable and affords grounds for concern. The routine work of the department has proceeded smoothly. There were over 19,000 inspections and re-inspections of premises during the year. There are great difficulties associated with the maintenance of properties in p, reasonable state of fitness in present circumstances. Legislation concerned with repair and maintenance is inadequate to permit the Health Department to discharge an important function effectively, to look after the comfort and needs of the tenant, and, at the same time, not to place a crippling and unfair burden on owners of properties which have outlived their usefulness or cannot be repaired economically at present costs. When taking action regarding closure or demolition many factors have to be balanced very carefully with available local housing resources and the large number of people in need of accommodation and on the waiting lists. In this connection it is gratifying to note that 369 new dwellings have been built by the Council during the current year. Last year I mentioned the part I thought preventive medicine should play in a health service and I ventured some personal criti cism of the emphasis placed on cure rather than prevention. I suggested that the cure outlook dominated our profession by reason of glamour, spectacular achievements and even perhaps by tradition. The health service fulfilled a great need and is a blessing to the sick and to their families but few would state that there is less sickness as a result of the expanding curative services. Is not this problem being tackled from the wrong direction ? People should think in terms of health and not disease. In commenting on certain aspects of the public health service which are no longer under the Council's direct control, I am con scious of labouring under a disadvantage. To avoid comment even of a general character is to evade the issue and impair the use fulness of the report. To comment adversely is easy when not accompanied by personal responsibility but a dreary succession of