London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
City of Westminster 1963
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Westminster, City of]
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39
Pharmaceutical Services in Westminster
In October, 1962, the Council's attention was called to difficulties
experienced by residents of the Pimlico area in finding a chemist who
kept open late in the evening for dispensing prescriptions. Enquiries
revealed that, while there was no official rota for chemists in the Pimlico
area to keep open later than normal shop hours, certain of them
voluntarily did so for one hour or more after 6 p.m. on weekdays—and a
few chemists also opened for a short time on early closing days, Sundays
and public holidays. The City Council felt that the arrangements ought
to be improved and made suggestions to that end to the London Executive
Council of the National Health Service, which was at that time reviewing
the pharmaceutical services throughout the County of London. These
suggestions included:—
(a) the Pharmaceutical List, or extracts from it, should be
circulated to all general medical practitioners and Police Stations
in Westminster—in addition to Post Offices; and
(b) list should be displayed in chemists' shop windows giving
details of other chemists' shops in the neighbourhood which were
open after normal shop hours.
The London Executive Council decided to adopt the first of these
suggestions. With regard to the second, the Executive Council stated
that this was already in operation, but that consideration was being given
to a better form of notice.
The Council is also arranging for more detailed information about
the pharmaceutical services to be inserted in future editions of the
City Council's Information Handbook.
(B5852) a 11
Census , 1961
The following figures, extracted from the Report of the Census of the County of London for 1961, are of interest, and illustrate the changes in housing conditions in Westminster during the ten years 1951-61:—
| 1951 | 1961 | |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 99,048 | 85,735 |
| Density of persons per acre. | 39.6 | 34.2 |
| Number of persons per room | 0.76 | 0.69 |
| Total number of private households | 32,449 | 32,869 |
| Number of households occupying separate dwellings | 21,732 | 28,317 |
| Number of households sharing dwellings | 10,717 | 4,552 |
| Number of households sharing dwellings without exclusive use of stove and sink | 3,300 | 1,983 |
| Number of households without a fixed bath | 10,405 | 5,740 |
| Number of households sharing a watercloset | 11,411 | 8,026 |
| Number of households having exclusive use of piped hot and cold water, fixed bath and water-closet | 12,449 | 16,899 |