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firmed, five were slight and are now leading a normal life, six
required more prolonged hospital treatment and have still lost the
use of certain paralysed muscles, and one was fatal. Fortunately
no case occurred of respiratory paralysis necessitating treatment
in a special respirator (" iron lung ").
One of the outstanding problems of the year has been the
difficulty in recruiting the staff necessary to carry out essential
services.
At the end of July Dr. J. L. Rennie left the Council's service
to take over the appointment of Medical Officer of Health, City of
Carlisle. Dr. Hilda Menzies was promoted to the post of Deputy
Medical Officer of Health rendered vacant by Dr. Rennie's resignation;
and steps were taken to fill the vacancy caused by Dr.
Menzies' promotion by the appointment of an Assistant Medical
Officer of Health. By the end of the year, however, the vacant
appointment of Assistant Medical Officer of Health had not been
filled.
One of this Council's pre-war permanent staff of three fulltime
dental surgeons (Mr. Brash Grant) died on active service in
January, 1940. Since January, 1947, Mr. J. E. Horton—who has
been in the Council's service as a dental surgeon since 20th May,
1920, has been incapacitated from duty due to illness, and was
subsequently superannuated on medical grounds in November,
1947. As the Council accepted, in July, 1946, the County Council's
recommendations for dental staff—six dental surgeons and six
dental attendants for the Borough of Leyton—it will be appreciated
that it has been quite impossible to arrange for the necessary dental
inspection and treatment of Leyton pre-school and school children,
and of expectant and nursing mothers, with the available seriously
depleted dental staff.
The authorised establishment of midwives directly employed
by the Council is four. Of these, one (Miss E. Roberts, S.R.N.,
S.C.M.) retired from the Council's service on superannuation due to
ill-health on 31st January, 1947; and another, Miss M. Lynch,
S.R.N., S.C.M.) was transferred to a vacant appointment as school
nurse on 16th September. Although repeated advertisements were
issued inviting applications for these vacant appointments, no
appointment had been made to fill either of these vacancies by
the end of the year.
As the number of health visitors (six) is considerably below
the number recommended for an area with a population of 7,000