[Report 1962-1964] / Medical Officer of Health, Penzance U.D.C. / Borough.

  • Penzance (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1964
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1962-1964] / Medical Officer of Health, Penzance U.D.C. / Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of dysentery (Sonne) among pupils of Newlyn Infants' School. Some twenty-five families v/ere investigated, and a number of symp- toraless excreters were found in addition to eight cases amongst the pupils themselves. In 1964 there were a number of developments of special sig¬ nificance to the future, including a proposal by the County Council that the three Health Areas in the Western part of the County should be S' algamated into two Areas. The effect would be to put a greater load on your own Medical Officer, and the matter was still under consideration at the end of the year. Also in 1964 the County Coxmcil required head-teachers to report cases of diarrhoea and vomiting in schools to the Secretary of Education and not to the Medical Officer of Health on the spot - the inevitable result was a slov;ing down of the arrival of vital information in his hands. Of more local interest was the report by the Council's Con¬ sulting Engineers on two possible waj^s of dealing with the sewage at present discharged from a number of outfalls above or near the tide line. Both envisaged pumping to one point and then disposal either to sea via a submarine pipe-line, long sea-outfall, or to an inl.and disposal works. The cost in either case was dis¬ couraging, but the Coimcil at least showed itself prepared to look what is a national problem in the face, and one must hope that this will prove merely to be the first step to action on a serious prob¬ lem. One c.aniiot conclude this brief glance at the public health situation in the years 1962-64 without recalling that in 1964 Dr. F.D.M.Hocking retired after giving many years of helpful support and advice to this Council and their staff on the bacteriological and chemical aspects of their work; in his place came a new Public Health labora.tory in the grounds of the Royal Cornwall Infirmary, Truro, with a full-time bacteriologist. Dr. G.I.Barrow, and staff. Arrangements for chemical analyses were made with Dr. Reynolds who, at his laboratories in Exeter, already acts for a number of Authorities in the iost. D. L. JOHNSON. Medical Officer of Health