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HISTORICAL
The London Borough of Bexley was formed by the amalgamation of the Municipal Boroughs of
Bexley (population 90,160) and Erith (population 45,970), the Urban District of Crayford
(population 33,600) and the Sidcup portion of the Urban District of Chislehurst and Sidcup
(population 87,480). The combined population of the new authority was estimated by the
Registrar General to be 215,480 in 1965.
Members of the new authority were elected in May, 1964. The Medical Officer of Health was
appointed in June 1964 and the Deputy Medical Officer of Health in August 1964. A Health
Committee was appointed to plan future services and to ensure a smooth transfer of responsibilities
on the 1st April 1965.
During the period June 1964 to 1st April 1965, the Medical Officer of Health and the Deputy
Medical Officer of Health continued in their previous appointments and were only able to devote
part-time service to the London Borough of Bexley. During this period it was necessary to obtain
full details of all existing services and facilities in the area and to plan the new services and the
departmental structure. A large number of persons employed by the constituent authorities had to
be interviewed for appointments and where no suitably experienced person was available, posts
had to be advertised firstly among the other authorities affected by the re-organisation in the
Greater London area. If no suitable applicants were found, special authority had to be obtained
from the Staff Commission to advertise nationally. As will be appreciated, this all took time and
caused many problems by delays.
Great difficulty was also encountered because the Personal Health, the Welfare and the School
Health Services (with the exception of Bexley Municipal Borough, which was an excepted district
for School Health Services) were all provided and administered by Kent County Council and no
senior staff, medical nor lay, were available for transfer from the County Council. This meant we
had to try and recruit from the London market at a time when experienced personnel were being
sought by the other London Boroughs and very attractive offers of posts were available elsewhere.
A number of very important senior posts, e.g. Senior Medical Officers, Chief Administrative
Assistant, Welfare Officer, Superintendent Nursing Officer, Superintendent Health Visitor, Senior
Mental Welfare Officer, etc. could not be filled from local staff. These posts were advertised in the
London area and in some instances nationally, and as a result of the inevitable delay most of the
persons appointed to these posts did not take up duty until after the 1st April 1965 and were not
available to assist in planning the new department at a vital stage.
In my opinion the interim period of nine months between appointment of the Chief Officer and
the coming into operation of the new department was insufficient and in any future re-organisation
of local government a much longer period would be beneficial. It would also help if the newly
appointed Chief Officer could function in a full-time capacity from the date of appointment, and
if other key personnel could be appointed full-time at an early date to facilitate the planning and
organisation of the new department.
Great difficulty arose from the absence of adequate accommodation in which to house the new
and greatly enlarged department, a problem which also affected other departments of the new
authority. For the Health & Welfare Department it was decided to use the offices of the Bexley
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