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3
CITY OF WESTMINSTER
Telephone: Health Department,
01 -828 8070 City Hall,
Victoria Street,
London, S.W.1.
To The Right Worshipful The Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the City of Westminster.
My Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report on the Health of the City of Westminster for the
year 1968. Once again the report is presented in four main parts—a general section, environmental
health, personal health which includes work undertaken in connection with the school health
service, and appendices of statistical tables. Each section shows a steady progression with a
general increase in the volume and scope of work. Wherever possible opportunity has been taken
to include comparable statistics of the previous year; they appear in the text in parentheses or
elsewhere in a separate column.
The staffing situation in the Department throughout the year continued to be generally satisfactory
although there were certain categories (primarily nursing staff and dental surgery assistants) in
which difficulties of recruitment were experienced. It is no consolation to the remaining members
of the staff who continue to provide services while short-handed that these problems are common
to many authorities.
Two senior public health inspectors retired during the year at the conclusion of long public
service. One of them (Mr. L. Pearson) proceeded to Canada with his wife in order to enjoy a wellearned
retirement near to his son. Their retirement was in fact short-lived and it is with much regret
that I report that both Mr. and Mrs. Pearson died as a result of a fire in a block of flats in which
they were then living near Niagara Falls.
The year 1968 could be called "The Year of the Reports" for it saw the publication of a multitude
of documents of significance to local government—Maud, Mallaby, Seebohm and a Ministry Green
Paper to name but a few—dealing with local government management, social services re-organisation,
health service administration, and yet another on medical education. Many millions of words
were contained in these reports, and almost an equal number of words has been written in comment.
The views expressed by the City Council in relation to the Green Paper are set out later in this
Report; the Maud and Mallaby reports were referred to a special sub-committee of the Council
which resulted in 1969 in a complete overhaul and streamlining of the Council's committee
structure.
In each of the reports since 1965 opportunity has been taken to deal in detail with the work of a
section of the Department. In 1965 a general resume was made of the health services in Westminster
following re-organisation of London government; the 1966 report dealt in detail with the work
performed by the Health Department social workers, whilst the 1967 report featured the Council's
mental health service. Opportunity has been taken in this report to deal with the work of the public
health inspectors in the food section.
Tourism is a major industry in Westminster and each year many millions of people from all over
the country and indeed from all over the world visit the City to enjoy the various attractions which
exist here. This influx creates problems for the Health Department in relation to the catering industry
and it is interesting to note that Westminster has more catering premises than any other local
authority in the country.
In addition to the work of the public health inspectors in the catering section, problems are
created for members of the staff in the food control group who deal with the safety of the public food
supply as well as the standards of premises in which food is sold or prepared. The standards of
hygiene of itinerant food traders (the hot dog salesmen) leave much to be desired and several