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To the Chairman and Members of the Public Health and
General Purposes Committee.
Gentlemen,
I submit for your consideration my Annual Report on the
health and sanitary condition of the district for the year 1925.
The report follows very closely the outline and arrangement
suggested in Circular No. 648, issued by the Ministry of Health
in December, 1925. This circular states that the report for the
year should be a "survey" report, and should review the progress
and development of the health services during the last five years.
In this connection it will be remembered that the period under
review has been one of great financial strain and difficulty, and that
strict economy has had to be observed in the health as in other
public services—expansion which appeared necessary or desirable
has had to be abandoned or very much curtailed.
At the same time it should be pointed out that during this
period there has been a large amount of new health legislation, more
especially dealing with milk and food supplies, and that the adoption
and putting into practice of this legislation has in itself involved a
considerable expansion of the work of the health department.
The most urgent need at the moment is the provision of larger
and better accommodation for the Infant Welfare Centre and for
the clinics connected with the School Medical Service, and I hope
the Committee will seriously consider this problem at an early date.
Advances have been made in the period under review for attending
to the health of expectant and nursing mothers. An ante natal
clinic is now held weekly, and the Joint Maternity Home for the
Districts of Beckenham and Penge, which was opened at the beginning
of the period, is now utilised to its fullest capacity. The
demand for beds in the Home has amply proved the need that
existed for such provision, and it became available at a time when,
owing to shortage of houses and overcrowding in the homes of the