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107
treatment of children's teeth by the topical application of a solution of sodium
fluoride.
The following statement shows the number of staff employed in the Public staff of the
Health Department in mid-1949 (Part-time staff being expressed as whole-time DePartment
equivalents).
Type of staff
Location
Total
Head office
staff
Divisional
staff
Staff employed
at other
establishments
(a)
Administrative and clerical (including
ambulance clerks)
229
583
69
881
Medical staff
20
159
(b)
179
Dental staff
2
64
(c)
66
Chemists
16
—
7
23
Inspectors
15
—
—
15
Nursing staff
11
2,699
356
3,066
Medical auxiliaries (d)
—
122
22
144
Social worker grades (including
mental health)
28
147
79
254
Supervisory staff (London Ambulance
Service)
3
-
13
16
Manual workers, operative staff
(L.A.S.), domestic grades, etc.
3
2,028
616
2,647
Totals
327
5,802
1,162
7,291
NOTES
(a)These establishments include residential schools and nurseries, welfare establishments, ambulance stations,
occupation centres for mentally defective children, main drainage outfall works, clinics and dispensaries,
district offices (mental health), central dental laboratory, etc.
(b) There are some 70 visiting medical officers employed at residential establishments on a part-time basis whom it
is not possible to compute in terms of whole time units of staff. They have, therefore, been omitted from the
table.
(c) There are 12 visiting dental surgeons employed in a similar manner as the medical staff referred to in note (b)
above who have been omitted from the statement.
(d) Including physiotherapists, chiropodists, speech therapists, orthoptists and dental attendants.
The number of references to the department for medical examination or advice
concerning the health of staff and the fitness of candidates for appointment totalled
12,184 compared with 14,689 in 1948.
Medical
examinations
Reciprocal arrangements with provincial authorities for the examination locally
of new entrants were continued. Provincial medical officers of health arranged
examinations for 19 entrants to the Council's service and the Council's medical
officers examined 14 persons for provincial appointment.
The Council's staff medical examiners made 81 home visits to examine
members of the staff who were unable to travel, compared with 50 during 1948.
REPORTS BY THE DIVISIONAL MEDICAL OFFICERS
Divisioti 1, comprising the boroughs of Chelsea, Fulham, Hammersmith and
Kensington.
Dr. Violet Russell reports:—
During the greater part of the year the administration of the medical services
in the Division was handicapped by the long absence on sick leave of Dr. Harry
Smith, the late Divisional Medical Officer, and his untimely death in September.
This sad loss is regretted by all his colleagues and will be felt for some time to come.
Nevertheless, the result of the year's work may be regarded with satisfaction.
Difficulties arising from the momentous administrative change of July, 1948, have
been surmounted, and stabilisation is being followed by steady and satisfactory
progress in many directions.
In this Division the maternity and child welfare work dates back to the days
of the pioneers, with the consequent disadvantage that many of the welfare centres
H