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The value of the liaison which I have been
able to develop between my duties as Medical Officer of
Health for Friern Barnet and Area Medical Officor for
Area No. 2., County of Middlesex, has been maintained,
if not intensified during 1958. As the Council will
be aware, we have a very close link between the Public
Health Department and the immunisation sessions at Holly
Park Clinic. It was also possible to arrange the
closest and most harmonious co-operation between the
Public Health Department and the Area Health Office in
the matter of propaganda for vaccination against poliomyelitis.
This was of quite inestimable value, and has
undoubtedly been a very potent factor in establishing
the fact that the vaccination against poliomyelitis rate
for Friern Barnet children must now be among the highest
in the County. It is a great personal pleasure to be
privileged to correlate the work of the Public Health
Department with that of the Area Health Office, ever
having in mind that health is quite literally indivisible.
It would be quite impossible in such a report as this to
elaborate the many ways in which these links nave been
forged, although one might mention the constant interchange
of information and of views which takes place
almost day by day. Altogether, the part which is being
played by the Urban District Council in promoting the
personal health services of the inhabitants of Friern
Barnet is by no means inconsiderable. And that is
almost certainly an understatement.
More and more emphasis is being placed, and
very rightly placed, each year on the risks which
accompany the increasing use of radio-active materials.
It must certainly be admitted that Friern Barnet is not
a district in which radio-activity is likely to present
itself as a serious hazard. None the less, the position
remains unsatisfactory. I am personally convinced
that at least a proportion of the Public Health staff
should be made fully aware, not only of any sources of
radio-active waste or fission products which exist within
the Urban District or in the vicinity; but should also
have adequate training in the measures which would have
to be taken in an emergency. Neither of these
essential safeguards has yet been provided. We are
certainly told that the most careful watch is being
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