View report page

INTRODUCTION TO ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1944
The dominating feature of 1944 was the Flying Bomb attack
in the summer. Evacuation, both privately conducted and government
sponsored, was more extensive than during the winter of
1940-41, and the return of those evacuated was more gradual.
All of this is reflected in the record of the work done in the various
branches of the Public Health Services. Although the Elementary
Schools were never actually closed, for a number of weeks no school
department had more than a handful of children in attendance ;
under such circumstances Routine Medical Inspections at the
schools, and attendance at.the School Clinics ceased. The same was
true for the Maternity and Child Welfare Service : attendances at
the Infant Welfare Centres were negligible and the number of
effective home visits by the Health Visitors was greatly reduced.
Arrangements were made for the evacuation of many expectant
mothers, and at the request of the Ministry of Health the Beckenham
and Penge Joint Maternity Hospital Committee at the beginning of
September agreed to the removal of the Maternity Hospital to
Wales. During the last four months of the year the attendances at
the schools gradually increased, and increasing use was made of
the various clinics ; but conditions had not reached normal by the
end of the year. The Maternity-Hospital returned from Wales in
December, and a few patients were admitted during that month.
The effect on the incidence of Infectious Disease was remarkable.
The notifications of the four commonest notifiable infectious diseases
of childhood were : in May—46, June—45, July—5, August—2,
September—3, October—4, November—12, and December—67.
This record was influenced not only by evacuation but by dispersal—
a factor which, as I have pointed out before, is of great importance.
The most difficult question of all is the housing of our people :
it becomes more acute with every week which passes. The complete
cessation of the building of houses for over five years, the destruction
of house property, and the gigantic task of repair of wardamaged
houses present the Public Health Department with an,
at present, insoluble problem. Each day brings to the notice of
the Department cases of hardship and distress which it is impossible
to relieve or even to mitigate. Only the most urgent matters of
dilapidation and disrepair can be remedied, with the result thatunfit
houses must inevitably be kept in occupation and many other
houses perforce allowed to deteriorate. This means that in addition
to the shortage of houses in the Borough before the war, houses
destroyed and the cessation of building, a large number of houses
will have to be demolished as being no longer-fit for habitation. This
does not imply neglect at any level ; it is just a part of the price
exacted by war. Although all of the different clinics and personal
health services have real value, the foundation of a healthy and
happy life is the home, and no Public Health Authority can face the
insistent problem of housing with anything but grave anxiety.
Mr. E. G. Moore, the Senior Sanitary Inspector, who had given
3