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elderly, the local help given to hospitals jointly by the W.V.S. and
Red Cross in connection with the Trolley Shop and Canteen must be
counted as a local service to the elderly. The Friends of Beckenham
Hospitals also help with extra amenities.
Members of the Inner-Wheel visit old people in their homes;
holidays for old age pensioners are arranged by the Round Table;
Rotary, the Parochial Charities Trust, and other organisations help
locally.
To all these voluntary services and the members thereof no praise
can be too high for their valuable help in rounding off the basic national
services and high-lighting some of the deficiencies which still exist.
Vaccination and Immunisation.
1,398 diphtheria immunisations, 860 smallpox vaccinations and
60 B.C.G. vaccinations against tuberculosis were carried out. In
each there is a slight increase over last year, when these results were
described as excellent. Not all the immunisations recorded were
carried out in the Clinics, for a large number were part of the combined
immunisation against whooping cough, diphtheria and Tetanus which
are normally carried out by most medical practitioners in this area.
Environmental Services.
Noise is becoming a major nuisance of the times, accentuated
by the improved hearing of the Age. It is also as difficult to measure
and define as is health. To be dealt with by statutory powers noise
must be proved to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance ; also that
the best practical means of prevention had not been adopted. If such
a nuisance occurs, it is speedily investigated and dealt with in a commonsense
and practical manner by the Inspectors of the Health Department.
Food poisoning is intimately concerned with food hygiene, and
a graph shows the incidence of notified cases in Beckenham. The
Medical Research Council have suggested that the different bacterial
cases of food poisoning require different approaches to the problem.
The control of salmonella infection is a most difficult problem, and
an intensified search for contamination of substances used in food
manufacture, such as egg products, offal, sausage meat, is the
most important step. Welchii infection could best be controlled by
not cooking meat or gravy in bulk the day before it is eaten, and perhaps
by cutting out the reheating of meat dishes. At the end of the year
Food Hygiene Regulations were laid before Parliament, and in the
coming year it is hoped to have a workable set of Regulations under
the Food and Drugs Act, 1955.
In conclusion, I wish to thank Dr. Elliott and his staff for their
co-operation during the year. My own staff have worked with
enthusiasm, initiative and zeal, and the Committee have given me
the greatest possible support and encouragement.
L. R. L. EDWARDS,
Medical Officer of Health.
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