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Tuberculosis Care Committees.
Although the responsibility for care work has passed under the National Health
Service Act, 1948, to the London County Council as the local health authority, the
Islington Tuberculosis Care Committee remains in being, working in conjunction
with the Islington Chest Clinics at the Royal Northern and Royal Chest Hospitals,
and members of the Borough Council and the Medical Officer of Health serve on the
Islington Tuberculosis Care Committee and the Divisional Care Committee for the
co-ordination of care work in the three Boroughs of Islington, Finsbury and
Holborn. Loans of bedding or medical appliances were made to 58 patients
others have been referred to various organisations for assistance.
I am indebted to Dr. A. B. Stewart, Divisional Medical Officer, London County
Council for the 1950 figures in connection with vaccination, diphtheria and whooping
cough inoculations, and tuberculosis dispensaries.
SECTION C.
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE AREA.
Owners of some houses in the Borough continued to find that such properties
were proving uneconomic, and in certain cases requested the Council to take over
the properties, free of charge, and thus relieve them of any future responsibility,
but the Council was unable to accept any of these offers. Appropriate action
continued to be taken under the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, in respect of
abatement of statutory nuisances, and the condition of the properties, together
with the position in which owners are finding themselves economically, is reflected
in the large increase in the number of prosecutions taken by the Council during the
year, a number of which were for failure to comply with Abatement Orders.
Recourse to legal action has been forced on the Council as a result of circumstances,
but it is fully appreciated that the money paid by the owners in penalties would be
far better spent on the properties, in assisting them to comply with the Notices at
a much earlier stage. The majority of the houses in the Borough are over 70 years
old, and this, coupled with the fact that the properties deteriorated considerably
during the war, due to lack of repair, makes their maintenance in a reasonable
condition difficult. The already acute housing situation did not improve during the
year, and rehousing families from unfit houses remains a very slow process.
During the year the Minister of Health approved the appointment of a
Supervisory Sanitary Inspector, to assist with the supervisory work of the Department.
This appointment, although not implemented during the year under review,
brought the total establishment of Sanitary Inspectors up to thirty-one, including
the Senior and Deputy Senior Sanitary Inspectors, although for seven months of
the year full establishment was not attained.