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4
on which again the Wood Green Council is represented. It is true
that the actual work of the Maternity and Child Welfare service is
still carried on by the same personnel as formerly, but all the officers
concerned are now, with the sole exception of the Medical Officer of
Health, full-time officers of the County Council and no longer
responsible for their work to the Wood Green Council.
These two Acts, the Education Act, 1944, and the National
Health Service Act, 1946, have very profoundly altered the responsibility
of smaller authorities like Wood Green in health matters,
and have taken away entirely all responsibility for the personal
health services which they have administered for over 40 years.
Whether this general movement away from small authorities to
large authorities is a step forward or a step backward, particularly
in such a service as Maternity and Child Welfare is a debateable
question which can only be answered in time; but it is the case that
it is viewed with considerable misgiving by many who have devoted
much of their professional life to these services.
But while much has been taken from Wood Green as a health
authority, much still remains, and with its depleted staff consisting
now of a Medical Officer (part-time) a general office staff and an
efficient body of Sanitary Inspectors, the work to be carried on in
environmental hygiene, house inspection and repair of defects,
inspection and supervision of food, hygiene of factories and workshops,
and control over infectious disease is still very considerable
and of prime importance to the welfare of the community.
I am,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
MALCOLM MANSON,
Medical Officer of Health.