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Health Department,
Municipal Offices,
Castle House,
2 Walworth Road,
S.E.I.
To The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
London Borough of Southwark.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1 have the honour of presenting my first annual report on the health services
of the new London Borough of Southwark, a name perpetuated because of its
historic associations.
The first official report of a Medical Officer of Health in the area of the London
Borough of Southwark covered the period 1st January, 1856 to 31st March, 1857,
in accordance with Section 198 of an Act passed on 14th August, 1855 for The
Better Local Management of the Metropolis. There have been numerous enactments,
changes in areas and administration and great advances in knowledge, since that
time.
In recent years, the National Health Service Act, 1946 and the London Government
Act, 1963 brought major changes in the responsibility for the personal health
services. In the metropolitan area, the former Act transferred such services from the
Borough Councils to the London County Council; the latter Act, inter alia,
decentralised the services to new administrative areas to be known as London
Boroughs.
In accordance with the provisions of the London Government Act, 1963, the
new Borough operated from 1st April, 1965; but the Ministry of Health directed
that this report should cover the complete year of 1965 incorporating information
from the former London County Council and former metropolitan boroughs.
All statistics for 1964-65 for the health departments of the former Metropolitan
Boroughs of Bermondsey, Camberwell and Southwark are of course available.
In the case of work transferred from the former London County Council, however,
the London Borough of Southwark covers part of two former administrative
areas and few figures relating to the present Borough are available for the year 1964
for comparative purposes, and for the period 1st January to 31st March, 1965 for
inclusion in this report. It is, therefore, not possible to comment at any length on
the state of the personal health services in the Borough normally indicated by
various increases or decreases in the statistics pertaining to the several services.
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