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ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON.
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
KENSINGTON, W. 8.
28th June, 1947.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Royal Borough of Kensington.
My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my annual report on the
state of the public health in Kensington in 1946.
In view of the continuing pressure in the public health
department, and the need for strict economy in the use of paper,
this report is in the abbreviated form which has been adopted
since the outbreak of the war at the request of the Minister of
Health; but full statistical records are maintained in the
public health department for future reference.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.
The post-war expansion and renovation of the health
services, especially the need to provide up-to-date premises in
which these services function, have been overshadowed by the
acute problems arising from the housing shortage.
The position has been accentuated by the recent increase
in the population of the borough, which dropped because of war
conditions from 172,100 in 1939 to 97,180 in 1941, but which has
now risen to approximately 150,000. This return of population
has created demands for health services which have been at times
difficult to meet; but, whilst more could be done in the way of
environmental and preventive health work, the Council's services
have coped with the demand to the extent that no crisis occurred.
as an example, it might be mentioned that the increasing population
and pressure on all available accommodation have resulted
in many demands for the repair of dilapidated dwellings. This
has created a heavy amount of work for the sanitary inspectors,
who have been handicapped by the general shortage of building
labour and materials in providing a reasonable standard of
habitation for all families. It is hoped that an easing of the
shortages will allow the Council's staff to increase their efforts
to ameliorate some of the bad housing conditions under which
residents are living. The arrears of work are so great that the
staff will be engaged to the utmost capacity for some years at
least. In this connection, the Council have introduced a scheme,
in co-operation with the Ministry of Labour and National Service,
for training sanitary inspectors, and it is anticipated that by
this means the additional staff required in the next two or three
years will be forthcoming.