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To the CHAIRMAN and MEMBERS of the COUNCIL.
Madam and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in submitting to you the Annual Report for
the year 1948, this being my first report to you and the fourteenth
Annual Report since Orpington was made an Urban District
in 1934.
I commenced my duties as your Medical Officer of Health
on the 1st August last, following the retirement of Dr. P. N. Cave,
who for so many years gave to your Local Authority the outstanding
skill and knowledge which he possessed.
Much of the work which he developed during his term of
office was, on 5th July, transferred to the administration of the
County Council under the terms of the Health Act, 1946.
This change of administration, both at officer and Local
Authority levels, has made it difficult for me to submit a report
on the work of the Department during 1948. I have, however,
indicated in the body of the report a summary of the services
now given by the County scheme through their divisional
administration insofar as it affects the inhabitants in your
district. Where there is over-centralisation and a multiplicity
of authorities dealing with Public Health, there is a danger of
loss of local interest, incentive and enthusiasm. It is because
of this danger that one must appreciate the fact that, in spite
of losing many of the functions previously performed by your
Local Authority, there remains a field of work in Public Health
which has not yet been cultivated. Public Health is not merely
a matter of treatment and care of illness, nor a matter wholly
of drains and effluvia, but extends into the whole field of social
welfare. The fact that there is an inter-relationship between
active medicine, the prevention of disease, the improvement to
the environment and the social condition of the people, is something
that we, as a Public Health Authority, must always keep
before us.
There are two outstanding matters which require attention :
(1) There are 2,786 houses without main drainage and 271 houses
without piped water supply. These are a potential danger to
Public Health, and should receive first priority at all Government
levels. (2) Improvement in the standard of food preparation.
At the end of the year Mr. Crowe and the Sanitary
Inspectors began a detailed inspection of all food-preparing
places, canteens, kitchens, etc., and it is hoped that in my next
Annual Report I shall be able to report more fully on the matter.
This is important, for not only is community feeding a common