[Report 1945] / Medical Officer of Health, East Sussex County Council.

  • East Sussex (England). County Council.
Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1945] / Medical Officer of Health, East Sussex County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL AKNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNTY MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH UPON THE HEALTH AND SANITARY CONDITION OF THE COUNTY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER, 1945. To the Chairman and Members of the East Sussex County Council. Mr. Chairman, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour as your newly appointed County Medical Officer to submit the fifty-first Annual Report on the Health of the Administrative County of East Sussex. Dr. R. Ashleigh Glegg retired at the end of December, 1945, and the Report, therefore, deals with the last year of his tenure of office. It is fitting to place on record that Dr. Glegg served the County faithfully and well for a continuous period of over eighteen years, being appointed as the first full-time County Medical Officer for East Sussex. Starting at a time when the clouds of economic depression were gathering and laying down the reins only after a period of war stress which might have daunted one of weaker fibre. Dr. Glegg showed a breadth of experience and a fund of unfailing good humour which have been of untold value not only to the County Council but to his colleagues and all those with whom they had to work. Even now, in his well-earned leisure, he is devoting a large amount of •his time to the promotion of Associations for Housing of the Aged, so that his skill and knowledge are not lost to the County. General Health of the County. Although the end of overt hostilities found the population of East Sussex, in common with the rest of the country, more than a little weary, the health in general of the people has been maintained at a remarkably high level, and the believed increase in minor ailments may easily be attributed more to increasing ennui and a tendency to impatience with the speed of return to happier conditions than to any real impairment of health. In some ways, indeed, it may be claimed with confidence that improvements have been continued during the war, notably in the health and general condition of infants and young children, and a further reduction in maternal mortality. The year has been one of taking breath after the intense efforts of the war period, while already making plans for what may well prove to be nearly as intense efforts for social improvements in the coming years. The General Election, with its tremendous “ swing to the left,” delayed for a time the introduction of a National Health Service but made it clear that much legislation of a social and public health character was to be expected. Water Supply and Sewage Disposal. Meetings were held during the year of representatives of bodies concerned with the water supplies of the three areas into which, for this purpose, the geographical County has been divided. The north-western area committee appointed a firm of consultant water engineers in July, 1945, to examine the position and make a report ; they have been supplied with technical information and other assistance from time to time. The south-eastern area committee held several meetings, including those of the technical sub-committee, and in December, 1945, formed two technical sub-committees as the eastern and the western portions of the area presented individual and somewhat different problems. Limited local proposals for improvements in water supply and sewage disposal have been the subject of consideration and enquiries. In addition, conferences have been held to discuss a major sewage disposal scheme, mainly the concern of Surrey and Kent, which might also affect East Grinstead. This scheme was still under consideration at the end of the year. Rural Housing. During the year the Housing (Rural Workers) Acts lapsed and the powers and duties thereunder were merged in the general powers and duties of District Councils. At the instance of the Central Housing Advisory Comhiittee further conferences have been held with representatives of the District Councils to consider what improvements were needed in the above Acts, and a joint reply was in course of preparation by the end of the year. The conferences also further considered the suggested uniform standard for the demolition, reconstruction and repair of houses, in the light of the survey being undertaken of all the dwellings in each County District, in the course of which, classification in five categories according to degree of fitness for habitation and possibility of repair was to be made. A detailed survey of this character, even with the augmented staff which some areas have found it necessary to employ, is bound to take many months to complete, but by the end of 1945 substantial progress had been made ^d it is expected to be nearly finished in another year’s time. In order that the local authorities might have early information upon which to base their housing programmes, attempts have been made to devote special attention to Category Five, those houses which are only fit for demolition. District Public Health Services. The process of tidying up and return to normal conditions after the final cessation of hostilities had hardly started by the end of the year and the great majority of the medical officers and their public health staff who had entered the fighting services were still away.