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9
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the
Borough of Bromley
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
In submitting to you my 24th Annual Report covering the
year 1948, I have met with the difficulty that in the mid-year
services ably carried out and developed by you over the years,
were transferred, under the National Health Service Act, en bloc
to the County Council.
The administration of the Part III Services under the
National Health Service Act as from July 5th, 1948, became
centralised at Maidstone with the establishment of an Area
Sub-Committee covering Penge, Beckenham, Bromley, Chislehurst
and Sidcup and Orpington, a population of approximately
300,000. As from that date I was appointed Area Medical Officer
under the Kent County Council, and from August 1st, my
services as Medical Officer of Health for Bromley were shared
with Orpington and Chislehurst and Sidcup. Under this rearrangement
of duties there results an administrative liaison
between the environmental services of the Local Authorities,
excepting Beckenham and Penge, and the various services
scheduled under Part III of the National Health Act.
In June, 1948, I submitted to Bromley Maternity and Child
Welfare Committee a report on their services during the years
1908-1947, a report which indicates the progress made by the
Local Authority in the care and welfare of the Mother and Child.
I have thought it of interest to incorporate this report as a matter
of record.
“To the Chairman and Members of the
Maternity and Child Welfare Committee:—
The Maternity and Child Welfare Committee will cease to exist as a
Committee on July 5th. and I have thought it wise to give a short history
of Bromley's work on the care of Mother and Child, and to place on record
the results of this work during the years, results which, in my humble
view, must bring satisfaction to the Committee for work well done. There
is no doubt that these services have not only received the approbation and
support of the ratepayers, but have been the keystone of Public Health in
Bromley. It is with feelings of deep regret that I am losing the administrative
and clinical control of these services, which for so many years have
been my earnest endeavour. However, there is some consolation in knowing
that we are passing to the County Authority a successful service and
one that can be described in more senses than one as a ' going concern.'
Bromley was not only in the forefront in the commencement of
Maternity and Child Welfare work in 1908, but has to-day a service which
is, I believe, equal to any in the country. The movement began in Bromley
in 1908 by the formation of a voluntary agency known as the Bromley
Health Society, where Mothers of the working classes were instructed how