[Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Bournemouth County Borough.

  • Bournemouth (England). County Borough Council. nb2004301338.
Date:
1959
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1959] / Medical Officer of Health, Bournemouth County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/134 (page 8)
    myelitis Vaccination Scheme, and the results achieved were most satisfactory. The Bournemouth acceptance rates were some of the highevSt in vSouthern England, and during 1959 there were only two cases of poliomyelitis, in unvaccinated adults. In all, 47,514 injections of poliomyelitis vaccine were given during 1959, and vaccination sessions were arranged in schools, factories, clinics, and public buildings, and lunch-time and evening sessions were held in addition to sessions during normal working hours. The publicity surrounding the poliomyelitis vaccination scheme has unfortunately drawn attention away from the diminished use made of protection against smallpox and diphtheria. To many, even among the medical and nursing professions, these diseases are but a memory, but experience has shown that whenever these diseases return to any area, the population loses no time in pressing for protection. Fear is apparently still the best health educator. Mental Health Services Considerable progress has been made in building up the Depart- ment's medical and social worker staff, and co-operation between the local authority, the general practitioner and the hospitals has reached a very high level. General practitioners are now in the very forefront of the battle against mental ill-health and their powers for good are incalculable, both in the way of early recog- nition of the condition and of sympathetic after-care. Admissions to mental hospitals during the year, nearly 400, remained much as in 1958, but there were among these, unfor- tunately, many relapsed cases requiring further treatment. Although informal admissions are at first sight so advantageous to the patient, they carry with them the danger of hasty and ill-advised discharges despite the warnings of the psychiatrist. It is too early yet to comment on the practical application of the Mental Health Act, 1959, as many of its provisions do not come into operation until the autumn of 1960, but it has already become very clear that no matter how energetic a local authority may be in pursuit of mental health for the population it serves, the recruitment of staff is certain to be a limiting factor. Work among the mentally sick is a vocation favoured by few, and those few must be cherished accordingly.