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little, if any, action is taken following the receipt of notifications
by general practitioners. The cost of this notification
is quite considerable and there is no commensurate return
from the health point of view. Scarlet fever is another
disease the notification of which could, perhaps, temporarily
be discontinued. It is hoped that in the future the whole
position of notification of infectious disease will be rationalised
in the light of present day needs.
During the year poliomyelitis vaccination was vigorously
carried out by the Local Health Authority ,and details
of the numbers vaccinated are given on page 23.
During 1958 the Council decided to explore the possibility
of implementing section II of the Clean Air Act, 1956,
relating to smoke control areas, and a pilot survey was
undertaken with a view to obtaining reliable information as
to the cost of replacing unsuitable appliances and adapting
others to make them capable of burning smokeless fuels.
A further pilot survey, on a different type of area was carried
out during 1959. The Health Committe have been much
exercised in the course of their deliberations by the lack of
assurance that adequate supplies of smokeless fuels, other
than coke, will be available and have not been too happy
that, in the main, authorities will have to rely on coke as
the main source of smokeless fuel for some years to come.
In 1956, the South East London Mass Radiography
Service issued a report on the operation of the service in a
report entitled "No Time for Complacency" and although
no hard and fast conclusions could be drawn from this
in regard to the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis in this
area, it was evident that a sufficient reservoir of infection
was present to raise the question of the advisability of
carrying out a concentrated mass radiography survey. The
Councils of Erith, Bexley and Crayford have now appointed
a joint committee to carry out such a survey in the Spring
of 1960, and a great deal of preparatory work will be necessary
in the Autumn of 1959. A house to house visitation
will need to be made which, in the case of Erith, alone, may
mean as many as 13,000 visits with proportionate numbers
for the remaining two areas. Tuberculosis is a waning
disease and it is hoped that this concentrated attack will contribute
towards its final eradication.
The work of the Bexley, Erith and Crayford Home
Safety Committee continued during the year with steady
propaganda in the interests of the reduction of accidents