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7
first Housing Improvement Officer and took with him in his new
appointment the best wishes of his colleagues in the Health Department.
The progress achieved in 1971 in this two-pronged attack
upon the housing front locally will be watched with special interest.
In sharp contrast the cause of clean air suffered a major setback
with the suspension in November for a five-month period of 40% of
the operative smoke control orders in the Borough on account of a
wholly unexpected and equally unwelcome shortage of solid
smokeless fuel; the implementation of two further smoke control
orders was deferred for twelve months in each case. Between 1958
and 1969 the concentrations of smoke and sulphur dioxide at
ground level fell in central London by 80% and 40% respectively
thanks to the Clean Air Act of 1956—a landmark in the history of
public health legislation—but in the winter of 1970 atmospheric
pollution inevitably increased appreciably in the wake of the smoke
control order suspensions. What a supreme irony that this disruption
of the clean air campaign should take place, not only in
European Conservation Year, but also in the year in which a
Standing Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution was established
and the Department of the Environment created !
Safe and sanitary housing, clean food, clean milk, clean water,
clean air and a quiet and clean environment free from chemical
as well as bacterial pollution are all prime public health objectives
which occupy to the full the energies of the public health inspector
whose educational role assumes ever increasing importance. The
support given by the technical assistants and administrative staff
is invaluable. Notwithstanding the acute disappointment in the
clean air sector, 1970 proved a rewarding year for the environmental
health service locally in terms of both actual achievement
and future prospects. Much credit is due to the Chief Public Health
Inspector, Mr. Winton, for this satisfactory position.
Wandsworth was one of the first local health authorities to implement
fully the National Health Service (Family Planning) Act of
1967 and, very fittingly, this key service expanded still further
during European Conservation Year. The numbers of both new
and established patients seen at the clinics run on behalf of the
Council by the Family Planning Association continued to grow,
the overall total of attendances rising from 13,311 in the previous
year to 17,023. Although the number of new domiciliary patients
remained virtually stationary, visits were paid to fewer individual
homes overall in 1970 reflecting the heartening degree of success
being achieved by this important component of the service in
weaning to the clinics, so to speak, women initially seen at home.
Cervical cytological screening is another important preventive
service provided by the Council. Available to all women living or
working in the Borough, this comparatively new public health
venture continued to thrive in 1970. Total attendances for the