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Health and Welfare Department,
9 Brampton Road,
Bexleyheath,
Kent.
To: The Council of the London Borough of Bexley.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the first report on the health and sanitary circumstances and on
the school health service in the London Borough of Bexley.
I am pleased to be able to report that during the period under review there has been no serious
outbreak of infectious disease and the health of the inhabitants has been satisfactory.
Normally the reports of the Medical Officer of Health and Principal School Medical Officer are
presented annually, but due to the exceptional circumstances which have affected the establishment
of the new department it has not been possible to prepare full and separate reports for each
year and instead a combined document covering the first five years of the new authority has been
produced.
Time has not permitted detailed reports to be prepared on all the various activities of the
School Health Service and only statistical information has, therefore, been included. It is hoped
that future reports will cover these important activities in detail.
The Medical Officer of Health is also Director of Welfare Services but it has only been possible
to include brief references to the welfare services which embrace a wide field of social care covering
the aged, the handicapped and the housebound and certain categories of homeless persons.
Many problems were encountered in establishing the new department and providing and maintaining
the various services to the public and these are referred to in detail later. Despite the many
problems it is gratifying to report that from the 1st April, 1965, all essential needs of the public
were met and the services available to the public prior to that date were not only fully maintained
but extended and improved wherever possible.
This will be my only report to the Council as having reached an age when I am eligible to retire
voluntarily I have decided to exercise my right and after thirty years in the Public Health Service
will leave the local government service at the end of 1969, to take up a less onerous and less
demanding appointment in the hospital service.
Thanks are due to the various Chairmen and Members of the committees who have been
responsible for the services provided by the Health & Welfare Department for their encouragement
and support. The complexities of modern local government services are such that a Health &
Welfare Department cannot function without the assistance of others and I wish to record my
indebtedness to my colleagues the Chief Officers and Heads of Department and their staffs,
medical colleagues in both hospital and general practice and the various voluntary and other
organisations with which the department collaborates closely, for their invaluable and willing
assistance.
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