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REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE CITY OF LONDON FOR THE YEAR 1962
To the Right Honourable The Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commoners of the Corporation of London.
Guildhall,
E.C.2.
(
Telephone: MONarch 3030
My Lord Mayor and Gentlemen,
"Gentlemen", wrote the City's first and greatest Medical Officer of Health,* Sir Joh
Simon, in his first Annual Report, (71 pages), which he read to the Court of Common Council
on November 6th, 1849, "the history of the City of London is full of great examples of public
service. It records many a generous struggle for the Country and for the Constitution; it records
a noble patronage of arts and letters; but never within the scope of the annals, has the Corporation
had so grand an opportunity as now for the achievement of unlimited good."
Almost the same words could be written by the City's 8th Medical Officer of Health in
presenting to the Corporation for their consideration the principle of an occupational health
service for the City.
At the meeting of the Court of Common Council on 17th December, 1959, the late Mr. Deputy
F.A. Homer asked whether anything was being done by the Port and City of London Health
Committee with regard to the health of office workers, a matter which was then receiving wide
publicity because of debates in Parliament of a private member's bill which was being introduced
as the Offices Bill.
The Chairman of the Port and City of London Health Committee in reply to the late Mr.
Deputy Horner, promised that the Committee at the first opportunity would consider a report
from their Medical Officer of Health. This report, which was presented at their meeting on 22nd
January, I960, recommended a research survey into the environment of office workers in the City.
Following a number of further investigations and reports which were considered by the
appropriate Committees, it was finally agreed by the Court of Common Council on 30th June,
1961, that the Corporation should appoint a specialist in that field to undertake a sample survey
of occupational health conditions in the City in order to obtain a broad picture of the extent to
which these would be likely to comply with the requirements of the proposed bill when it had
acquired the force of law; this broad picture he should present in the form of a report which
should be ready, at least in interim form, within a year of his appointment. The report should
include an appraisal of the desire by City firms to co-operate in the setting up and maintenance
of an occupational health service.
On the 8th January, 1962, Dr. Alan Robinson commenced work. His first report (presented
on 13th December 1962), not only brought to light interesting features about City workers'
environment but also revealed a substantial proportion of City firms that wanted to enjoy the
benefits of an occupational health service particularly the many smaller firms that had no service
of that kind at all nor any access to medical advice for their workers, most of whom 'commute'
long distances daily, arriving home at an hour when it is difficult to get in time to the surgeries
of their family doctors.
Before another Annual Report is published, it is hoped that the Court of Common Council
will have approved a detailed plan for setting up an occupational health service for City workers
to be financed by the Corporation "City's Cash" in the first instance thus adding another
"great example" to the City of London's history of public service, so rightly extolled by Sir John
Simon.
Another example, though on a smaller scale, is afforded by the City of London Cancer
Diagnosis Centre at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. This also originated in a question asked in the
Court of Common Council. This time it was Mr. Hardcastle Sanders (happily still with us) who
asked why we couldn't have a cancer diagnosis scheme analogous to the Mass Radiography Unit
for chest diseases. Here again the Chairman of the Public Health Committee (as it then was)
referred the matter for a report to Committee by the Medical Office of Health. The result was the
establishment at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in July 1959 of arrangements for cancer diagnosis
in females by means of the Papanicolaou histological test. The scheme was financed outof
"City's Cash". Latterly the service has been extended to include also diagnosis of cancer
by the use of a spectrophotometer and of a specialised x-ray technique known as mammography.
This has meant further co-operation between the Authorities of St. Bartholomew's Hospital and
the City Corporation with additional grants from City's Cash.
• With acknowledgement to "Sir John Simon", by Royston Lambert, published by MacGibbon and
Kee, Ltd. London
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