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6
Work of the sanitary inspectors
It became clear that having regard to war damage, general
deterioration in housing repair of the borough, and the necessity for
carrying out new types of work, the staff of sanitary inspectors was too
small. During the year, approval was obtained from the Ministry of
Health to an increase in the staff of inspectors, but owing to a general
shortage of inspectors in London it had not been possible by the end of
the year to bring our strength up to the approved establishment.
Nevertheless some steps were taken in the reorganisation of the work,
and this included dividing the borough into four food inspectors districts,
each inspector acting as sampling officer. The previous set-up
had been two food inspectors districts and one sampling officer to
cover the whole borough.
Food hygiene
The committee gave continued attention to the general problems of
food hygiene particularly with regard to eating utensils in public
restaurants and to food (including ice-cream) shops. The position
cannot yet be considered as satisfactory, but during the year there
was no serious outbreak of food poisoning or food infection. Various
minor outbreaks were reported and were investigated, advice being
given where practicable to prevent a recurrence.
Propaganda
A series of six lectures, most of them illustrated by short films, was
arranged for the autumn under the title of Autumn Health Campaign.
The subjects included Marriage guidance, Protection of children against
infectious disease, Venereal disease, Hygiene in the home, Infectious
diseases conveyed by food, and Parentcraft. They were held in the
Small Hall of the Town Hall, and in spite of preliminary publicity,
the attendances were disappointing, although they improved towards
the end of the series.
Infectious diseases
The most serious problem with regard to infectious disease which
confronted the department during the year was the outbreak of poliomyelitis
(infantile paralysis). As is well known this outbreak was
spread all over the country, but amongst the London boroughs we were
one of the worst affected. The cases started towards the end of June
and continued until the late autumn, the maximum number occurring