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our knowledge of morbidity as opposed to mortality still leaves
much to be desired. We do not, for instance, have accurate information
as to the amount of sickness occurring among the population
as a whole, apart from notifiable infectious diseases. We are
dependent for this knowledge on information received from general
practitioners, from the Ministry of National Insurance and from
schools. It will be appreciated that this information must, of
necessity, be sketchy and that it would be quite impossible to present
an accurate, composite picture from such data as comes the way of
the Public Health Department. Unfortunately, there is at present
no machinery to overcome this difficulty. It is sincerely to be hoped
that this omission will one day be rectified, and that the Medical
Officer of Health, who should be in possession of this information,
will eventually be able to collect, collate and present a series of
comprehensive statistics which will enable the health of the district
to be adequately assessed. Until that day arrives, we must make
the best possible use of such information as is at present available.
It is for this reason that close and cordial contact with general
practitioners is so very significant.
1956 saw the beginning of slum clearance projects. Work
under this heading was initiated by the passing of the Housing
Repairs and Rents Act 1954. The work carried out during the past
year will be dealt with in more detail later in the Report, but it
may now be said that Southgate has tackled this problem actively
and with decision.
The longer I continue as Medical Officer of Health, the more
do I come to realise that housing is one of the most important
factors which affect the health of any district. The unhealthy
environmental conditions under which so many people are compelled
to live and work obviously have a very significant bearing on the
occurrence of disease, not only infectious diseases but also illnesses
in general. More important still, overcrowding, a social menace of the
first order, not only affects health; the happiness and contentment of
families which have to contend with overcrowded conditions are
placed in immediate jeopardy. I am only too well aware that
the solution is difficult. The Council must be equally well aware,
however, that this problem must be given the highest priority if
the health of the district is to be maintained at the level which has
been such a feature of Southgate's corporate existence for so many
years. The close liaison which has existed for so long between the
Health Committee and the Housing Committee has done much to
maintain this problem at a reasonable minimum. Unhappily—and
this is a fact which we must all recognise—there is no prospect of
the problem decreasing. Indeed, every year brings added problems,
problems which affect an increasing proportion of the population.
As I have already said, the problem must be faced with the greatest
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