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An enormous amount of time has been taken up by such activities as the assessment
of housing priorities on medical grounds, and attempts to co-ordinate services and make
liaison with a multiplicity of organisations.
It is often said that the Medical Officer of Health should act as a liaison between
his Department and others without considering the implications and the time taken in
making the necessary contacts. Speaking for myself, I find that Advisory Committees,
of one sort or another, Maternity Liaison Committees, Cross Infection Committees,
Hospital House and Management Committees, British Medical Association meetings,
meetings of the voluntary associations in the area as well as a new appointment as one of
the Medical Advisors to the Health Committee of the Association of Municipal Corporations,
while all providing interesting work, consume a good deal of my time, so that the
struggle to keep abreast of modern scientific developments is a difficult one.
Last year I drew attention to the heavy burden placed on the Public Health Inspectorate
by the Clean Air Act. This in no way decreased particularly as the survey
of number four area got under way during 1960. Fortunately the Council, recognising
the need, agreed to the appointment of an additional public health inspector.
No Medical Officer of Health's report in the London conurbation could be complete
without some reference, however brief, to the Royal Commission on Local
Government and the White Paper consequent upon it. Changes which are foreshadowed
will provide increasing problems in the future, though it may be that if it achieves its
aim of bringing local services nearer to local people it will have been worth while.
Once more I must thank the staff of the Department for their help during the year
and the Public Health Committee and the Health Area Sub-Committee for their support
and understanding.
J. Adrian Gillet,
Medical Officer of Health.
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