[Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, Eastbourne County Borough.

  • Eastbourne (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1952
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, Eastbourne County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/98 (page 6)
    Avenue House, Eastbourne. August 1953. To His Worship the Mayor and to the Aldermen and Councillors of the County Borough of Eastbourne Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen: I have the honour to present the Sixty-first Annual Report on the state of the Public Health in Eastbourne which relates to the year 1952. In accordance with the instructions of the Minister of Health as set out in Circular 29/52 of 1952, the basis of this report so far as the services provided under the National Health Service Acts are concerned was prepared in December 1952 by my predecessor in office. Dr. John Fenton, and was submitted in the form of a survey to 'the Minister and to the Council. The same Circular indicated that the survey was to form part of the Annual Report and it has, therefore, been reproduced under the appropriate headings. Viewing this report as a whole it is clear that Eastbourne is able to provide Health and Welfare Services of a high standard, comparing very favourably with many a larger borough. It would indeed be a tragedy if ill-considered legislation were ever to remove the administra- tion of these intimate and personal services from local control. No small measure of credit is due to Dr. Fenton for his part in the development of these services and it is indeed fitting that he, the able architect of the Council’s plans under the National Health Service Act, should be the commentator in the survey included in this report. Of the many figures which are of necessity included in a report of this nature, the one which to my mind gives rise to the greatest concern relates to the serious increase in the number of both certified and voluntary patients admitted to institutions under the Lunacy and Mental Treatment Acts. Forty-six persons, as compared with twenty- six during the previous year, were certified.