View report page

73
Because of shortage of medical staff, it was not possible to provide more
than minimal medical oversight of residential homes for the aged and many of
the adult day care services; however, with the increase in senior staffing in the
Health Directorate in 1972, it is envisaged that this shortfall will be remedied.
Medical Examination of Staff
The pattern of this service did not alter in 1971. The total number of
medical examinations increased by over 300 due to increased intake and increase
of staff turnover in the Social Services and Public Services Directorates. All
entrants, with certain few exceptions, continued to be given a full medical
examination and staff were required to have a chest x-ray at the time of examination
or within the previous year. For staff at risk, mainly those working with
children, protection against prevalent infectious diseases was advised. These
medical examinations provide a screening service for entrants, detecting early
symptomless conditions requiring observation or treatment. When related to
the work undertaken by the individual employee, some of the conditions were
found to be a definite contra indication or risk. Regrettably, it has not been
possible, because of staffing restrictions, to expand this service to include
evaluation and surveillance of the total environment of staff. The health and
happiness of workers relate not only to the physical environment but to
the other hazards of their occupations, the boredom of repetitive work, the
adjustments to human contacts, the causes of friction and anxiety and the
lack of job satisfaction. The evaluation of the psychological as well as the
physical fitness of the worker is no less important than the job analysis in
terms of the total physical and psychological environment in which the worker
must carry out his particular tasks.
The Directorate of Health Services gives professional advice to the other
Directorates within the Council's service with regard to individual staff problems
in which a medical basis may prove to be an over-riding factor with consequent
benefit to the individual concerned, to the referring Directorate, and the services
of the Council as a whole.
Dr. N.C. Walsh
Chief Medical Officer