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rience of the work of the Public Health Department and having the
confidence of the staff, their advice and support have been invaluable.
So far as the staff is concerned, it is not only a duty but a very
real happiness to be able to record in this report my great appreciation
of their whole-hearted and unselfish work. I am convinced that no
other local authority in the country has had better service.
The Civil Defence organisation operated under the Civil Defence
Committee, of which Councillor G. Loveland was chairman. Mr.
W. E. Baker, the general manager of works, was appointed Controller
and retained this responsible post throughout the war, being awarded
the 0.B.E. for his services. In this organisation the Medical Officer
of Health had charge of the casualty service of the Borough and was
responsible for all training in first-aid work, for the mortuary services
and for precautions against gas contamination. As a result of these
extra duties in the earlier part of the war, the actual staff of the department
rose from the normal number of about one hundred to about
five hundred.
First Aid Posts were set up in carefully selected places. At first
these numbered six, but it became apparent quite soon that six was
too many and so the number was reduced to three, of which two
were situated at the Central Baths and St. Olave's Hospital and one
was in the Redriff School " down town." Owing to the somewhat
isolated position of this area, it was decided to station both the
Stretcher Party and the First Aid Post as one large unit in this school,
but in the remainder of the Borough First Aid Posts and Stretcher
Party Posts were separate units in different buildings. Mr. Frankson,
the senior inspector, took charge of the First Aid Posts throughout the
Borough, and he and most of the other senior officers in the department
did their ordinary work during the day and remained on duty
at night almost continuously throughout the bombing period. In
this Borough we adopted the arrangement, perhaps unique, of placing
a permanent officer of standing in administrative charge of the First
Aid Posts instead of the practice more common elsewhere, of placing
a part-time visiting doctor in charge. These officers we called
" administrative officers " : there were three to each First Aid Post
and each one did duty for twenty-four hours every third day throughout
the war. Most of these posts were filled by Sanitary Inspectors, the
only exceptions being Mr. Shapland and Mr. Lumley, who most
happily expressed their willingness to give service in this way.
Certainly this arrangement was very effective and these posts ran
most efficiently with each administrative officer taking a pride in the
training and welding of his own team. There was one State-registered
nurse on each shift, and she, of course, was the mainstay of the team
in the operative periods. Most of the Health Visitors volunteered for
this work, and so far as the First Aid Post at the Central Baths is