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14
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
Chief Public Health Inspector: E.W. PIKE, M.R.S.H., M.A.P.H.I., A.M.B.I.M.
Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector: V.A. BIGNELL, F.A.P.H.I., M.R.S.H.

WORK OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH INSPECTORS
Last year, a reference was made in the Annual Report to the reorganisation of the National Health
Service and the uncertainty prevailing concerning the future of the public health inspectors. There were
few indications during 1972 from government sources to encourage forward planning, although in the
absence of official instructions to the contrary, it can be assumed that such duties as the public health
inspectors in London carry out at present will remain with them without fragmentation irrespective of the
type of departmental staff structure and administrative affiliation that each authority will decide for itself.
The Bains Report published during the year contained advice to local authorities that reflected the
views of the Study Group on Local Authority Management Structures. The Group was set up by the
Secretary of State for the Environment in May 1971, and suggested that for the first time in local
government there should be recognised and designated a chief environmental health officer. This did much
to allay the fears of public health inspectors that their duties would be redistributed and that their
professional future was in jeopardy. Nevertheless, in the absence of a more positive assurance, some
apprehension as to future prospects continued to influence many younger inspectors and remained a
contributory factor to the staff shortages affecting in particular urban authorities, which for some time
had been finding difficulty in attracting and retaining newly qualified inspectors to work in their areas.
It is undeniable that Westminster has much to offer young inspectors, keen to gain experience and
knowledge. It is not always realised or accepted, however, that the environmental health problems that
require investigation, whether they affect the resident population, those who enter the City to work, those
on holiday, or in transit, are considerable, and frequently require a great deal of time spent on them before
matters are finally concluded.
Two aspects of the public health inspectors' work (referred to in other parts of this report) that merit
particular reference for the year under review and which almost always require numerous prolonged visits
and other lengthy investigations before the issues are resolved, concern the public health inspectors'
involvement with demolition of buildings, with the subsequent site redevelopment, and the various matters
relating to tourism, including catering and hotel accommodation.
The increase of tourism has affected the work of the public health inspectors as it has other Departments
of the City Council. The opinion of Counsel that all hotels, hostels and boarding establishments whose
purpose it is to provide accommodation of a limited duration, are liable to compliance with all sections of
the Housing Acts relating to houses in multiple occupation, has opened a new field of responsibility and
control, which although still subject to decisions by the Courts, indicates that the inspectors will have a
far greater involvement in issues such as the maximum number of guests who should be in residence
consistent with the size and number of the rooms and facilities available, and the management and
maintenance of the entire building. During the year a senior inspector with one technical assistant
endeavoured to deal with complaints and other enquiries concerning such premises. It is a reasonable
assumption that these will increase considerably each year and will add to the difficulties of a depleted
staff.