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REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR 1954 3
the people and there are large new estates being developed. So far as
the estates developed by the Borough Council are concerned, the new
tenants are already Wandsworth residents. In the case of the L.C.C.
estates a high proportion of the tenants come from areas outside
Wandsworth. We are experiencing something in the nature of a
small social revolution in that large numbers of families are being
brought into the Borough into new and up-to-date houses and flats
from many areas in London where housing and living conditions
have long presented a problem. The main estates where this is occurring
are the Ackroyden and Argyle (population 5,400) and the
Ashburton (population 4,500) Estates, and these will be further
added to when the development of the large estate in the Roehampton
Lane area is completed. I have referred in the body of the Report to
a slight increased incidence of scarlet fever on one of these estates,
thought to be associated with children from many areas of London
coming together and playing together on the estate. The social
problems which the erection of these new estates provide are not,
at this stage, clearly defined and are not the immediate concern of the
Borough Council Health Department although, of course, since
health and welfare are indivisible they have an indirect health and
social bearing on our work. In connection, however, with the personal
health services, my colleagues and I have a responsibility for
these matters and the whole situation is one which is being watched
with a good deal of care and interest.
I made some mention in my Report for 1952 of the arrangements
in this area by which the duties of Medical Officer of Health for
Wandsworth, Medical Officer of Health for Battersea and Divisional
Medical Officer for the London County Council Health Division 9
are combined in a single appointment. I ventured the opinion,
writing at that time on the basis of some 18 months' experience of
the work, that the idea was basically sound and offered many advantages
over forms of administration where there was a functional
division between the environmental health services and the personal
health services. Now, two years later, after some three and a half
years' experience of the work, I am confirmed in my opinion that this
form of public health administration is highly satisfactory and
satisfying. From the point of view both of the services and of those
responsible for operating them, there is a tremendous advantage in
abolishing lines of demarcation between the personal and the
environmental health services which, from the functional or working
aspect, are largely artificial. Over the past three and a half years, no
difficulties have been encountered, and a very important contributory