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10
Health and Welfare Department,
Municipal Offices,
Royal Hill, S.E.10.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
London Borough of Greenwich.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my great privilege to submit this first report on the health,
welfare and environmental circumstances of the new London
Borough of Greenwich.
The Borough was formed by the union of the former Metropolitan
Boroughs of Greenwich and Woolwich and, in creating the
new Health and Welfare Department, the services being provided
by a number of authorities had to be integrated. Some idea of the
complexity of this exercise can be gained by a detailed study of
the multifarious services now being provided by the new Department,
which are described in the report. In those early days the
Council had in mind certain priorities. It was concerned with
preserving the continuity and quality of service so that the public
would suffer no inconvenience. It was anxious to absorb staff
without disruption and to create a Department which would work
effectively and harmoniously. Furthermore, it wished to adapt and
to shape the services and administrative patterns to meet local
requirements and, lastly, the Council was concerned to recognize
as early as possible present deficiencies in the local services and,
as a result of those enquiries, to prepare an orderly plan of
expansion relevant to the Borough's needs. By and large these
tasks have been accomplished and the process of consolidation
can begin.
In such an upheaval it is understandable that some Boroughs
were more fortunate than others in the allocation of facilities and
premises, but it must be said that in general Greenwich inherited
a reasonably well balanced service. The advances which have
already begun are along several fronts and full details are recorded
in the body of the report, but some are worthy of brief mention
in these prefatory remarks.
The Department is already identified as an important element
in the life of the community and the links which have been forged
with hospitals, doctors, societies and voluntary bodies in the health
and welfare field have never been closer. More local family