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Of the other infectious diseases, dysentery is perhaps the most prominent. Numbers were less than
in previous years, but there were one or two outbreaks in institutions and day nurseries, which caused the
usual considerable amount of administrative work before they were brought under control. There was a large
outbreak of measles, but with no deaths, and the number of cases of whooping cough was the lowest for the
past fifteen years. The outbreak of haemoyltic streptococci infection in the Central Middlesex Hospital is
described in the report.
Housing still presents the most important problem on the environmental side. The house-to-house
survey in selected areas in all parts of the borough was almost completed, and attention is now being directed
to slum clearance. The Council have decided to deal with five areas involving 234 houses, within the next five
years, but much more work will have to be done to relieve the overcrowding in the borough, and provide
reasonable housing accommodation. The Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954 has not been very sucessful
in encouraging landlords to do repairs more readily.
The occupational health service for Borough Council employees is working satisfactorily, and many
improvements have been carried out on their conditions of work.
The campaign for clean food continues, and the public is becoming more alive to the dangers of
contaminated food and more instances are being reported to the department.
There has been some extension of the work with old people, and health talks to them have resulted
in some new provisions for them. However, the time has come for local authorities to accept the main
responsibility for the care of old people, in addition to their statutory obligation to provide home helps and
home nurses, etc., so that the work can be co-ordinated more efficiently with that of voluntary organisations.
There has been a shortage of sanitary inspectors during the year, which has hampered the work of
the department and has prevented much needed extensions in the field of the campaign for clean food and
reduction in atmospheric pollution.
The personal health services remain substantially as before. Two new church hall clinics were opened
in areas; one in Kensal Rise, which was not provided for at all in the past, and the other in Kilburn, where
a large district was rather isolated from the main clinic. Both these church hall clinics have been very successful
but everyone is looking forward to the new clinic in Pound Lane, which will be the first for over 25 years.
The main need in the present service is for more health visitors to do the essential work of health
education of mothers and children in the clinic, general care of the child in the home, and for better liason
with general practitioners. There is also a need for a much greater extension of the work of the child
guidance clinic. The waiting list has increased, but all requests to the Regional Hospital Board for additional
sessions for the psychiatrist have been rejected. This, among numerous other examples, underlines the need
for an urgent reform of the local government administration, so that the personal health services can be run
by the people who understand the needs of the local community.
This has been a most interesting year for public health in Willesden, and my sincere thanks go to
councillors, members of the staff and sanitary inspectors, who have played such an important role in the health
and welfare of the people in the borough.
I have the honour to be,
Your obedient servant,
S. LEFF,
Medical Officer of Health.