[Report 1966] / Medical Officer of Health, Wigan County Borough.

  • Wigan (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1966
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1966] / Medical Officer of Health, Wigan County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/136 (page 5)
    INTRODUCTION To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the County Borough of Wigan. “Nothing in progression can rest on its original plan. We may as well think of rocking a grown man in the cradle of an infant.” Edmund Burke, 1728-1797. The quest for an appropriate text with which to preface this short intro¬ duction leads one into areas of thought and contemplation which would other¬ wise perhaps go unexplored in the busy routine of the daily work of the department. It leads to an overall assessment of the scope and meaning of the work accomplished during the past twelve months and to a comparison in broad terms with the efforts of past years. The theme emerging from 1966 is, with a few exceptions, definitely one of consolidation and expansion of existing services, particularly those mentioned for the first time in the report for 1965. Thus we have seen the highly successful operation of social rehabilitation of an area progress with increasing momentum. The results so far achieved have been astonishingly successful and certainly justify the Council’s decision to establish a Family Service Unit within the Department. The expedient of establishing a clinic within a block of flats at Worsley Mesnes has proved a most successful stop-gap and has enabled our services to be brought into an area of rapid development at an early stage and in a way which leaves room for adjustment when the new pattern of medical care which is now emerging has crystalised. In the meantime the influx of new families into Goose Green and Winstanley will certainly call for further provision of clinic premises in these areas. After a period of considerable frustration the Cervical C}d;ology Service got under way with the direct help of the Wigan Bound Table, whose members and organiser must be congratulated on their “sterling” effort which accelerated the introduction of the service into Wigan and District. The subsequent response from the female population at risk has been rather disappointing, considering the vociferous national and local campaign led by many women’s organisations to establish a service. A more direct approach may be needed to encourage the particular groups to whom the service would be most valuable to take advantage of it. At Fabrex, the adult training centre, a special Open Day was held for local industrialists who had previously been approached to provide work suitable for the trainees and a separate day was set aside to enable parents and members of the public to see the scope and quality of the work. As a result we have for many months lacked neither work nor goodwill and it is felt that both industry and the public now understand what the unit has set out to do. Of the more traditional health services mention must be made of the special survey of work in the Home Nursing Service to ascertain what tasks were