[Report 1956] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough.

  • Swindon (Wiltshire, England). Borough Council.
Date:
1956
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1956] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/92 (page 4)
    ANNUAL REPORT of the MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Swindon. I have the honour to present herewith the Annual Report on the Health and Sanitary circumstances of the Borough for the Year 1956. As in previous years I have, with the permission of the County Medical Officer of Health, Dr. C. D. L. Lycett, appended the report on the Services under Part III of the National Health Service Act 1946 which are delegated to the Swindon Area Sub - Committee and the report on the School Health Services of the Borough. Taken in conjunction these three reports will, I trust, present a com¬ prehensive picture of the state of health in Swindon. During the year the expansion of the Borough under the Town Development Act continued steadily. Penhill Estate is now almost complete and at the end of the year 1,983 houses were occupied there. In the Walcot area 1,159 houses were completed during the year and at 31st December, 1956, a total of 1,261 houses were occupied, 833 of them by overspill families. Generally the families arriving from London are delighted with their new houses and their standard of living is excellent. There are, however, the exceptions who create a serious problem for themselves, their neighbours, and the Authorities. No matter how much help and advice is given them these problem families fail socially and are unable to achieve a reasonable standard of living, and the house becomes a “slum dwelling” within a matter of weeks. Subsequent enquiries prove that these families have lived in similar circumstances before, and even the incentive of a good house and new surroundings fails to stimulate them to achieve a better standard of living. In fact several such families have had to be evicted for non-payment of rent, and have proved to be an embarrassment to the Welfare Authority who have to provide them with temporary accommodation. It would seem that the only way to overcome this difficulty with problem families is to have a representative of the Swindon Corporation to interview applicants before accepting them for re-housing. Last year I reported on the high number of Tubercular cases arising in the town under the expansion scheme. I am glad to report this year that with the co-operation of the exporting Authorities prior information about such cases has been forthcoming.