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3
Public Health Department,
98a, Avenue Road,
Hampstead, N. W. 3.
2nd May, 1961.
TO THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS
OF THE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF HAMPSTEAD.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report on the
Health of the Borough during 1960.
Some years ago it was not unusual to find the reports of
medical officers of health prefaced by some such expression as
"the health of the population has remained satisfactory and steady
progress has been maintained in improving conditions". This
would seem to imply that the public health department had managed
to keep its head above water, that its progress had been uninspired
and the results achieved had been equally uninspiring.
I hope that this is not true of the Public Health Department
of Hampstead although the Borough was not visited by any severe
epidemic and although living conditions generally continue to
improve.
It is not unusual to think of the health services in two parts,
the personal health services and the environmental services, and
as the personal health services are at present the responsibility
of the London County Council it may be thought that the Borough
responsibility is only for the environment. This however, is not
correct. The Borough services are very much concerned with
how people live as well as where they live and indeed with the more
general acceptance of good living standards the emphasis is much
more on how than on where.
Nevertheless a great deal of work is still necessary in
ensuring that houses are kept in thoroughly habitable condition.
The present law has its limitations and the standard of fitness as
defined in Section 4 of the Housing Act, 1957, deals with the house
itself and not the mode in which it is occupied. During the past
year therefore the Council has decided to make increasing use of