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1
Town Hall,
Hammersmith, W.6.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,—It is with mixed
feelings that I introduce my Annual Report for 1947.
This Report is, of course, the last before the new Act
alters the Health Services of the Metropolitan Boroughs.
The Maternity and Child Welfare services, so long the pride
of the Hammersmith Committee, pass out of its jurisdiction
in July, similarly the Tuberculosis service developed
by the Health Committee into its present shape no longer
will remain a credit to the Hammersmith Borough Council.
It seems, perhaps, unfortunate, that the efficient and
progressive Authorities must pay by loss for the shortcomings
of their less conscientious brethren, but on the profit
side of the balance sheet it is clear that the new Health
Scheme will inherit services which are already in first-class
working order, and therefore will have an excellent opportunity
to make an immediate success of this great social
experiment.
The last complete year of the "old Health world" has
brought much which is a continuation of evidence of the
success of the present Health Services.
The maternal mortality rate and the infant mortality rate
in the Borough both reached very low levels, the latter a
record.
We are particularly fortunate in Hammersmith in having
in the north and south of the Borough two large
hospitals, each with a large number of births taking place
every year.
In addition to the service for the care of premature
children which the Borough Council provide through
medical and health visitor staffs, both Hammersmith
Hospital and Queen Charlotte's Hospital have particularly