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7
To the Chairman and Members of the
Orpington Urban District Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report for 1963, and it
must inevitably be a matter of regret that this is the last such document
likely to be received by the Orpington Urban District Council, for it
must be assumed that the London Borough of Bromley will be the
local health authority before the 1964 report is ready for circulation.
Although the changes in local government must be received with very
mixed feelings by many people, yet it must not be forgotten that the
new local authority will have far greater powers with regard to the
Health and Welfare services than was ever the case with the individual
constituent authorities. Perhaps I may be forgiven for reminding
Members of some of the future responsibilities of the Health Committee,
e.g. Health Education, Midwives, Health Visitors, Immunisation
and Vaccination, Domestic Helps, Welfare and Mental Health. That
the future holds wonderful opportunities both for members and officers
is incontestable, and so far no mention has even been made of the
School Health Service which will, of course, be the responsibility of
the Education Committee. In the field of welfare, the Council and
officers are also assured of a vast amount of goodwill from the many
voluntary agencies which prosper so greatly in this area. That the
problems associated with ageing will not lessen with the passing years,
is almost a foregone conclusion, and any additional assistance that
can be given over and above that provided by the Local Authority,
will be greatly welcomed.
That much has been achieved in the past is undeniable, but at this
stage in the history of local government in the Greater London Area,
it is the future to which we must look, for there are certain diseases
and conditions which, unlike most of the infectious diseases most of
the time, have certainly not been conquered. It will therefore be
desirable through the medium of Health Education to make an attack
on these conditions which, although to a large extent preventable,
are in fact not being prevented. First and foremost in this category
must come lung cancer and its main cause—the smoking of cigarettes.
This fact is now so well known that to stress it seems superfluous, yet
the fear of abandoning smoking still surpasses the fear of the possibility
of becoming a victim of lung cancer at some future date. That
the whole attitude to smoking will have to be altered seems a near
certainty, and one of the big tasks of the future will be to bring about
such a change. Not only is smoking responsible for lung cancer, but
it also makes a very material contribution to the incidence of bronchitis