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4
health services, churning out in their stead a mass of rules and
regulations apparently devised for the guidance of a world of
"robots."
Until we get back to true local government in a new redistribution
of boundaries and functions, it would seem to be
useless to oppose the trend of government policy, since there is
no reply to the criticisms of the present administrative arrangements
in the greater part of this country. Ealing, with its high
tradition of health services, is being swept along with the rest of
the local authorities into a stagnant backwater. It is my duty to
warn you that in my view the loss of your hospitals is only the
beginning of the degradation of your services, and that it is
inevitable that the dental services, the tonsil and adenoid services,
the treatment of minor ailments, women's conditions and other
services will be lost to local control. Unless strong action is taken
there seems no alternative to the loss of all the health services by
the local to some other body.
This might not be to the disadvantage of the officers, but as
an old local government officer, I cannot believe that it would
be of advantage to the community as a whole.
The figures and details regarding infectious diseases are in
the body of the report but the loss of Clayponds Hospital must
inevitably take a great deal of interest out of the returns which
now are shown as a statistical rather than an administrative and
personal problem.
The rise in the birth rate after the war has ceased and we are
fast returning to conditions of the 1930's when the falling birth
rate and the ageing population gave rise to so much concern.
In 1949 the birth rate was the lowest since 1935, namely 14.4
compared with 15.7 for 1948. This has been accompanied by
another fall in the Infant Mortality rate and it is my pleasure to
be able to inform the Council that the Infant Mortality rate was
21 per 1,000 births compared with 26 per 1,000 for 1948. This
figure of 21 is a record for Ealing and would have been considered
astonishing only a few years ago. If there is any truth in the
assertion that the health of a borough can be best assessed by its
Infant Mortality rate, then Ealing has good cause for self
congratulation.
I have the honour to be,
Your obedient servant,
W. G. BOOTH,
Medical Officer of Health.