Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for St. Marylebone, Metropolitan Borough]
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Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
St. Marylebone, W.l.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough of
St. Marylebone.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour as Medical Officer of Health to submit the following report
on the Health of the Borough of St. Marylebone during the year 1940. In view of
paper shortage the report is brief, but contains all necessary statistical and other
information on essential matters. Health conditions continued to be satisfactory
and there are no untoward happenings to record in this respect. The increase in
the death rate is partly accounted for by deaths due to enemy action which are
included in the classification of deaths under "Other violent causes." A note on
the civil defence activities of the Department is, for the first time, included in this
report. An outstanding feature of the year was the completion of the Town Hall
Extension, in which the Public Health Department, including Health Centre No. 1,
is now housed. The offices were transferred from the Town Hall to the new building
on the 20th April, 1940, and Health Centre No. 1 (which comprises maternity and
child welfare and various auxiliary clinics and a tuberculosis dispensary) removed
from temporary accommodation at the Old Baths Establishment, Marylebone Road,
to its new quarters on the 24th April, 1940.
My grateful thanks are due to the Chairman (Councillor Dr. C. A. Fuller) and
members of the Public Health Committee for the kindness, consideration and encouragement
they gave me throughout the year. To the staff my obligations are
too numerous to mention individually, but to every member I acknowledge my great
indebtedness. War conditions have made new and unprecedented demands on the
Department, and these additional burdens and responsibilities, involving duty by
night as well as by day, have been shouldered with commendable willingness, resourcefulness
and efficiency. I desire also to express appreciation of the valuable
assistance rendered by the Local Medical War Committee through whose co-operation
the services of a large number of medical practitioners in the Borough have
been made available for various branches of the Council's civil defence scheme.
Other organisations—notably the British Red Cross Society and the St. John
Ambulance Association—who have been closely connected with the local casualty
services since their inception have been unsparing in the help they have given to the
Council, and to these bodies my gratitude is warmly extended. Finally, tribute
must be paid to the citizens of the Borough. By their co-operation and by the
courage and fortitude they have displayed, often under the most trying circumstances,
the work of the Department has been assisted in many ways, difficulties
have been surmounted, and a fuller use of the manifold services provided by the
Council in war-time made possible.
I am,
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
H. A. BULMAN,
Medical Officer of Health.