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3
Mr. Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Ealing Borough Council.
The Annual Report of the Medical Officer of Health to the
Borough for 1951 must necessarily be shorn of some of its former
importance and interest since the National Health Service Act
of 1948 took away the responsibility for the Maternity and Child
Welfare services.
Much work remains for the Council to do and some of the
activities of the Health Department are dealt with in outline in the
pages of this report. It will be clear that the loss of the " Personal "
health services has resulted in a lively development of those services
left to the Borough, namely, those of " Environmental " health.
Such things as Food Hygiene, Old People's care, Nursing
Homes supervision, Infectious disease control, River Pollution,
Massage and Chiropody Establishments, and School Medical
Services, have given us a great variety of work and opportunities
to do much that is useful.
Your officers have also had the opportunity of co-operating
in basic research into foot defects among children and the investigation
carried out in 1951 by Dr. Hardy at Wood End and Greenford
has resulted in an important advance in the tracking down of the
cause of much foot trouble in later life. It is at least now certain
that whatever the exact cause, these troubles definitely arise
during the 5—15 year age group and the prevention of them will
therefore fall largely to the lot of the school health service. A note
of the work done in this connection during the year in Ealing is
included from Dr. Craigmile.
During the year we had our share of the wave of Sonne
Dysentery which crossed London after appearing to spread from
the North of England. There were 542 notifications, which in view
of the mildness of the condition and its occurrence almost entirely
among school children, probably means that several thousands
were affected. The active and thorough manner in which the
outbreaks were tackled at the schools almost certainly helped to
limit the spread.
It is pleasing to be able to record that only one case of
Diphtheria occurred—this was in an adult—during 1951. This
compares with 16 cases in 1949 and 48 in 1941. We may in fact
say that Diphtheria has been defeated as far as Ealing is concerned
and that it only remains for parents to take advantage of the
immunising facilities available for the good results to continue
indefinitely.