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Town Hall,
Euston Road,
London, N.W.I
September, 1960.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Saint Pancras
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen
I have the honour to present the Annual Report on the health of the Borough
of St. Pancras for 1959
It is with the deepest regret that I must commence by recording the death
of Dr Dennis H Geffen, who had been Medical Officer of Health of the Borough
of St. Pancras since 1944. Dr. Geffen was taken ill suddenly in his office in
August 1959 and died five weeks later Most of this report is therefore a statement
of the health of the Borough for the last year during which he was Medical
Officer of Health of St. Pancras.
In his first annual report to you Dr Geffen expressed his concern with both
the need for adequate housing for the citizens of St Pancras and the care of
its older inhabitants 1959 saw the completion of some of his work in this
connection The last area of the 1955-1960 slum clearance programme was represented
and the first overcrowding survey in St Pancras since 1937 was finished
This survey is considered of sufficient importance to reproduce in full as an
appendix to this report.
The work of the St. Pancras Association for the Care of the Aged continued
to expand. A second meals van was purchased at the end of June 1959 which enabled
120 mid-day meals to be delivered daily to elderly residents who could not provide
a meal for themselves This service was extended again early in 1960 when
Mrs Geffen very graciously presented a third meals van to S P A. C. A in memory
of her husband It is one of the services which helps many housebound elderly
people to be cared for in their own homes where they wish to remain for as long
as possible.
The five health officers made 9 985 visits to persons over retirement age
and were often able to help those they visited obtain domiciliary services which
were needed Many older people do not know how to obtain these services,, have
no younger relatives to help them and welcome the advice of the S, P A. C. A. nurses