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80
recommendations of national wage fixing committees and councils. When the time
came to hand over the hospitals with the 25,350 staff in the Public Health Department
who had been engaged in the Hospitals Service, the Council could fairly claim to
have tidied up, either on its own initiative or by the acceptance of nationally agreed
rates, the wages position resulting from new conditions created by the war and its
aftermath. The number of staff transferred was much below the number provided
for in the establishment (page 91) because of shortage of staff and of war damage.
For obvious reasons, not many changes in the existing structure of the Hospitals
Service were made in the months immediately preceding the "appointed day," but
one matter, however, is worthy of mention. Following the much regretted death of
Mr. G. F. Stebbing, F.R.C.S., F.F.R., who for many years had held the almost unique
position of Specialist in General Surgery and Chief Clinician in the Radiotherapy
Department at Lambeth Hospital, the Council decided to divorce the direction of
the radiotherapeutic work at the hospital from the general surgery so that the
undivided attention of a radiotherapist could be given to the supervision of the work
of the busy and widely esteemed radiotherapy department at the hospital. A position
styled "Director of Radiotherapy, Lambeth Hospital" was created from and
including 1st April. 1948.
Reorganisation
of
department
The staffing problems which confronted the Council's Public Health Department
during 1948, with its vast changes affecting the health services, were indeed difficult
and heavy.
For the first six months of the year, the department had three main tasks to
complete simultaneously. In the first place, its normal work had to go on. This
included the continued administration of the hospital service until 5th July and the
detailed and intricate arrangements made for the handing over of the 98 hospitals
to the Metropolitan Regional Hospital Boards and to certain Boards of Governors of
Teaching Hospitals.
At the same time, arrangements had to be made for the taking over of the
services to be transferred from the metropolitan borough councils and the general
assumption by the Council on 5th July of its duties under the National Health
Service Act. This necessarily involved the creation of the nucleus of a new department
within the existing framework of the one that was to pass away.
In addition, a considerable number of staff experienced in hospital administration
were lent in the early part of the year to the metropolitan regional hospital boards to
assist them in their heavy task of preparation.
All this had to be done without further staffing additions and that it was, in
fact, achieved successfully is greatly to the credit of the staff concerned, whose
difficulties in handling, over the course of these months in increasing "tempo,"
problems caused by an unprecedented situation were very great.
In preparation for the assumption of its new duties under the National Health
Service Act, 1946, the Council approved a scheme for the reorganisation of the
Public Health Department. Under this scheme the central medical administrative
work was divided into two main branches, one under the direction of the Deputy
Medical Officer of Health to deal with environmental hygiene and with the prevention
of illness, care and after-care and the other under a Principal Medical Officer to deal
with the personal health services for mothers; young children and school children.
On the lay administrative side, the work, under the direction of the Administrative
Officer, was reorganised into four divisions in addition to the London Ambulance
Service. The four divisions are concerned respectively with (a) maternity and child
welfare, including school children; (b) co-ordination of planning, mental health,
prevention of disease, care and after-care, building work and acquisition of sites;
(c) committee work, finance, statistics, health education and other miscellaneous
matters; and (d) staff and establishment matters. In addition to these central
office changes the Council created three principal administrative positions in each