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METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK.
Public Health Department,
Walworth Road, S.E.17.
The Mayor, Aldermen, and Councillors,
Metropolitan Borough of Southwark.
Your Worship, Ladies Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in submitting my Annual Report
for the year 1948.
This year wa3 notable chiefly for the coming
into operation of the National Health Service, and National
Assistance Acts, which caused a considerable readjustment of
the Public Welfare Services, and of the administration of the
Public Her„lth Department, Prom this latter aspect the whole of
the Maternity and Child Welfare Services, with the functions of
the Almoner, Home Help Organiser, and the special Physio-Therapy,
Gynaecological, Chest X-ray, and Dental Clinics were all
transferred to the control of the London County Council or the
Regional Hospitals Board. Similar changes affectcd Fublic
Vaccination, Public Assistance, and other Social Welfare
services, whioh, while not directly the province of the Public
Health Department, worn closely linked with its work and
purpose.
It was to be expected that such far reaching
administrative changes would inevitably cause no small measure
of initial confusion. But it was also obvious that although
the Public Health Department wa3 to be relieved of the
organisation and control of those large and important services
for v/hich it had so long been responsible, they would remain
directly or indirectly - a ma.ior part of its primary, if
statutorily undefined, obligation as guardian of the health of
the community. In short, although these personal health services
were no longer to be part of the Public Health Department, they
were still part of Public Health, and as such it was inevitable
that the public should still seek assistance and guidance on these
matters from us.
In the public interest the closest co-operation
must be maintained between the Borough Council, and these
other authorities, not only on tho broad distinction of policy,
but also down to routine inter-departmental procedure. It is
sincerely to bo hoped that the centralisation envisaged of these
services will not, in their expansive scope, tend to sweep
aside local factors which differ 30 widely with each district.
To preserve this intimacy, the Medical Officer of Health, and the
Fublic Health Department must continue to fulfil an indispensable
function as liaison agents between the public and the new
responsible bodies. This becomes particularly obvious when one