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3. Dental Division —Principal Dental Officer (Mr. A. F.
Weedon).
4. Nursing Division —Principal Nursing Officer (Miss D. A.
Harding).
The reorganization of this division is
pending in the light of the Report of the
Working Party on Management Structure
in the Local Authority Nursing Services.
Two pilot attachment schemes of nursing
staff to general practices are flourishing.
5. Administrative Division—Principal Administrative Officer (Mr.H.J.
Horsnell).
Management and Services sub-divisions.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE NEXT THREE YEARS
The consultative document prepared by the Department of Health
and Social Security on the reorganization of the National Health
Service envisages the unification of the hospital, general practitioner
and local health authority personal health services in April 1974. Just
under three years remain in which to establish a lasting community
influence through the creation of dynamic up-to-date effective local
health and social services. Fortunately the reorganization entailed in
the unification of the personal social services has provided a golden
opportunity to build for the future.
So far as the Health Department is concerned a new streamlined
shape is designed to place the emphasis on the relevance of the task
and the quality of performance. The promotion of health, the prevention
of illness and care in the community have never been more
relevant—major preventable factors, frequently within the hands of
the individual to control, are to be found in all the leading causes of
death and disability, and human and economic considerations both
demand that hospital treatment be reserved strictly for those who
cannot be cared for at home. The challenge to the community health
and social services is great and can only be met by a united effort.
Thus, working in close collaboration with the Social Services Department,
the new Health Department will have the prime objective of
being fully prepared for the further reorganization ahead so that in
1974 the Council can rest assured that medical advice will be readily
available in a familiar setting and that the new area health authority
will contain a community health division sensitive to local needs and
respected on its merits as a relevant, competent, and therefore key part
of the reorganized national health service.