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PREFACE
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Edmonton, N.9.
Her Worship the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of
Edmonton.
Your Worship, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have much pleasure in presenting my Annual Report for the year 1947.
It contains only a brief outline of the health circumstances relating to the
Borough, and is compiled in accordance with Ministry of Health Circular
170/47.
On the whole this year was fairly successful in Public Health. There
was still a great deal to contend with ; arranging for repairs to be done, getting
permits for these repairs and contacting the people concerned was very
difficult indeed and prolonged each task in turn. We have now replaced the
absent members of our Sanitary Inspectors' staff, with the exception of one.
This fact in itself brings some relief, but a great deal of difficulty and delay is
experienced because of the absence of householders at their daily duties in
London or elsewhere. It is a very prolonged task indeed to contact house'
holders now, make arrangements for repairs, get permits granted, and obtain
the necessary permission to put the work into effect. Notwithstanding the
difficulties thus created, a good deal of useful work was accomplished during
the year, although it was rather long drawn out.
HOUSING. The Department is very embarrassed from time to time
on the question of overcrowding. It is becoming frequent in the Borough
that when the Housing Committee have rehoused a family from an over'
crowded house to have another family occupy the premises.
We are at present powerless to prevent such a thing happening. In
some instances the overcrowding is very serious. It would be a good thing,
therefore, if the powers of the Housing Act could be reintroduced in a modified
form to prevent conditions of overcrowding arising out of future circumstances.
I am pleased to be able to report that there is no further increase in the
incidence of Tuberculosis in the District. We are, however, as far removed
from achieving our ideal in the detection and treatment of this disease as we
were in other years. Hospital beds and beds in Sanatoria are still difficult to
obtain. The public, however, are more alive to the necessity of early diagnosis,
and consequently a tendency in this direction is most gratifying. We had the
Mass Radiography Unit in the District for about six weeks from the end of
May onwards. Quite a large number of people attended voluntarily, which
was encouraging, and it is to be hoped that we will obtain this Unit, particularly
for the Factory workers, annually in the future. There is, however, the difficulty
of accommodation which must be overcome, and I hope the Public Health
Committee and the Council will apply themselves to this task very soon.
It is also gratifying to note that the large majority of parents now seek
immunisation against Diphtheria of their own accord. The numbers
immunised, however, amongst the " under 5's' and school children are still
far too few to stamp out Diphtheria al together. It is significant, however, that
as many cases now occur in the adolescent age as there are amongst school
children—showing the beneficial effect that immunisation has amongst the
younger population.
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