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Health Office,
Gentleman's Row,
Enfield,
Middlesex.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the London Borough of Enfield.
I have pleasure in presenting my report on the health of the Borough for the
year 1965.
This is the first Annual Report since the inception of the London Borough of
Enfield on the 1st April, 1965, and the Minister of Health has instructed that the
Report for the complete year should be based on the area as at that date, using
information supplied by the Borough's predecessors for the first three months of
the year.
It will be appreciated that it was no easy task to endeavour to create and operate
one viable health service from an amalgamation of the Health Departments of the
Boroughs of Edmonton, Enfield and Southgate, and the central, divisional and area
Health Services (Personal. Mental and School) of the Middlesex County Council,
as well as accepting responsibility for various functions, including Food and Drugs
Control, of the Public Control Department of the Middlesex County Council.
Lack of suitable office accommodation has resulted in the Health Department
being accommodated in two unsatisfactory buildings divided by a very busy
main road and this, together with the need to provide information services at the
former Town Halls of Edmonton and Southgate, has not made the task easier.
However, careful allocation of the available accommodation has enabled the
Department to overcome these difficulties to a remarkable degree with a minimum
loss of efficiency.
The immediate essential task facing the new Health Department, which, of
necessity, consisted not only of persons who had not previously worked in the area,
but also many whose varying experience, methods, and outlook had to be adjusted
to new procedures and objectives, was to ensure that all former services should
continue undisturbed and efficiently, and that any immediately possible improvements
or new services be inaugurated. In spite of all the difficulties I believe that this
has been achieved, and that the services provided during the year were no less
satisfactory or comprehensive than formerly. Indeed, I think it is true to say that a
considerable measure of progress has been achieved, particularly in the expansion
of certain services, and time has been made available to partake, to a limited
degree, in research projects.
The willing service of many individual voluntary workers and the support of
the voluntary organisations, who have aligned their services to the needs of the new
Borough, provided continuity, and were much appreciated.
As this is the first Report on the Health Services of the Borough the opportunity
has been taken to record in some detail the Council's statutory powers and duties
in regard to local health services, and information has also been included on other
statutory health and allied services and voluntary medico-social organisations concerned
in the general pattern of health and social welfare.
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