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Many criticisms have been (and continue to be) directed
at the new system, but in my opinion it is too early to dogmatize
one way or another, and experience will shew how things
are shaping when the initial periods of administrative and
operative difficulty have had time to settle down.
The changes involved the departure from the Council's
service of all the medical staff with the exception of the
Medical Officer of Health. These were:-
Dr. Price, Deputy M.0.H., and Tuberculosis Officer;
Dr. Wolff, (Acting) Senior M.O. for the M & C.W.,
Dr. Barrett, Asst, M.O., M & C.W.,
Dr. Elyan, Asst. M.0., M & C.W.,
Dr. Hay, Senior R.M.O., Maternity Home & M & C.W.,
D r.Egan, R.M.0., and M & C. W.,
and the two public vaccinators - Dr.Dunwoody & Dr. Duff-
Miller.
To offset the transfer of the Deputy Medical Officer
of Health, arrangements were made whereby the essential Public
Health Services in Fulham and Hammersmith Boroughs could be
carried out by the two Medical Officers respectively, with the
assistance as necessary of the Deputy Medical Officer of Health
of the latter Borough, as an interim measure; and that medical
examinations of Council's staff, hitherto carried out by the
Medical Officer of Health and his staff, should be carried out
by a local general practitioner under suitable arrangements.
Together with the transfer of the Departmental Medical
Officers, the Chief Clerk, Mr. Trendell was transferred to the
L.C . C. on the 2nd May; and the second clerk (who took over his
duties) on the 5th July, (the senior clerk of the Public Health
Department after this being Mr.Sharp, who carried on until
the end of the year). A number of clerks in the M & C.W
Services were transferred to the L.C.C. as well on the 5th
July.
The changes necessitated an entire re-casting of the
remaining members of the Public Health Department and this was
being worked out at the close of the year. Under mutual
arrangements between the Fulham Borough Council and the L.C.C.,
the Medical Officer of Health of the Borough continued to act
in a "day-to-day" supervisory capacity for the L.C.C. in respect
of the transferred services, from 5th July, 1948; and this
arrangement still holds good at the time of writing this report,
and as far as my Department is concerned it is a pleasure to
record the smooth working of the transferred services under
the Divisional Medical Officer, Division I, Dr. Harry Smith,
L.C.C., with whom my relations have always been most friendly.
Continued difficulty has been experienced in maintaining
reasonable standards of fitness in existing housing accommodation,
largely owing to the shortages in material of various kinds and
labour during the year 1948, but it has also been necessary to
institute legal proceedings in 126 cases for non-compliance
with Statutory Notices served by the Council's Sanitary Inspectors,
It is of interest that Court Orders were obtained in
13 instances. As in the previous year very close co-operation
has been maintained with the Housing Department under Mr. Lovell,
Director of Housing & Public Buildings, and my thanks are due
to him for sympathetic and efficient help given on all occasions.