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the early Summer and the proportion of the eligible asking to cooperate
in this experiment was higher in this Division than in any
other part of Surrey. Steady work was maintained in all branches
of the personal and environmental health services.
Those who have the interest and patience to read and reflect
on the remainder of this report, will appreciate more fully how
impossible it is accurately and concisely to deduce the health of a
District. Much information which should be obtainable is not
available particularly in regard to those sicknesses which are not
notifiable and to absenteeism. One has constantly to recollect too,
that health is not the mere absence of disease but a positive state
involving complete physical, mental and spiritual fitness. An
annual stocktaking and report on the part of each individual resident
might be beneficial and revealing. With this wider conception
of health as a background, the inevitable inadequacy of this
attempted assessment of the state of the whole group stands out
clearly but becomes of less significance. Ultimately, the responsibility
rests with each of us as individuals to play our part if real
health is to be known and enjoyed by the District as a whole.
May I conclude by thanking the Council for its continued
support and my colleagues, in the voluntary and official branches
of the Health and Welfare Services for their full co-operation
which, we hope, has been to the benefit of the District. I would
wish to thank particularly those who have assisted in the preparation
of this Report, and request their patience if, in attempting
this revised edition. I have not given full enough recognition to
their special activities.
I am, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
F. R. EDBROOKE,
Medical Officer of Health.
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