[Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Cheltenham Borough.

  • Cheltenham (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1960
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1960] / Medical Officer of Health, Cheltenham Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/96 (page 5)
    Annual Report on the Health of the Borough of Cheltenham for the Year 1960 To the Worshipfnl the Mayor, the Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Cheltenham. Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, The chief item of importance during the year has been the delegation of Health and Welfare functions from the County Council to the Borough Council under Section 46 of the Local Government Act, 1958. The Scheme of Delegation as amended and approved by the Minister of Health on 16th February, 1960 came into operation on 1st April, 1960 and authorised the Council to exercise on behalf of the County Council the functions specified in the Scheme. In general, these functions include those Health and Welfare Services formerly administrated by the County Council with the exception of the Ambulance Service and services concerned with residential accom.modation. This report will cover nine months of the new administration but where possible an account of some of the new services will cover the full year. The Scheme of Delegation has involved a considerable amount of reorganisation, the provision of additional accommodation and the appointment of extra staff, but by the end of the year all the new services had been absorbed and the Health and Welfare administration was working fairly smoothly. I would like to take this opportunity of expressing my thanks and appreciation to the Chairman of the Health Committee of the Gloucestershire County Council, the County Medical Officer of Health and his administrative staff, whose assistance and co-operation greatly facilitated the taking over of the new services. One other item of importance during the year was the disastrous fire in the Municipal Offices on December 26th, which left us with two serviceable rooms in the Health Department and the loss of most of our records. A serious disruption in our services seemed inevitable but with the loyal co-operation of all our staff and assistance from other depart- ments no services to the public were withdrawn. Once again I must express my thanks to the County Medical Officer of Health who at once came to our help with staff and other assistance which tided us over a very trying period. No serious health problems have arisen throughout the year. There was no outbreak of any infectious disease and there were no cases of poliomyelitis.