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22
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES.
General.
Before elaborating under the various headings which go to make the
sanitary circumstances section of the Annual Report, one must emphasise that
while figures alone may indicate a trend this way or that, particularly in
respect of mortality, sickness and disease, they may indicate nothing at all,
or even far worse they may give a false impression of the amount of effort
employed by Public Health Inspectors in gaining results and also the magnitude
of the results achieved due to such effort.
The number of complaints received, the numbers of Notices served and
the number of notices complied with, convey no impression at all as to the
volume of work involved unless these tabulations are suitably amplified.
One would go so far as to say that a gradual increase in the number of
complaints received by the Department is a sad reflection upon the staff, in
that one would expect a gradual reduction in the number of complaints received,
should the basic routine inspections be carried out efficiently by the Public
Health Inspectors, Too often is it assumed that as the numbers of complaints
received by a Department decrease, so automatically the amount of work to be
done by Public Health Inspectors is diminished. Nothing could be farther from
the truth.
An enormous amount of work in preventing cause for complaint has been
done by the staff of this Department, which could never be recorded in figures
alone even if one wished to do so, and a brilliant example of this is the splendid
results of investigation and research carried out particularly by the Chief
Public Health Inspector referred to at some length in this report.
One sincerely hopes therefore that the reader will find interest in
reading the efforts made to amplify the work of the Public Health Inspectors
in conjunction with the figures tabulated in the various sections of the Report,
and at the same time consider our criticisms of doubtful legislation, suggestions
as to how legislation may be strengthened, and in seme instances energetic
measures which can be employed to overcome the lack of legislation and how real
progress can be made by compromise and persuasion.
Staff.
Unfortunately one must again report with regret the loss of experienced
Public Health Inspectors throughout the year, for whereas we commenced the year
with a full complement of Inspectors, at the end of the year we suffered a loss
of 50% on the establishment. Prom a careful study of this loss, the fact that
Inspectors can find employment under better conditions away from the Central
London area with no loss of salary, a considerable financial saving and a great
deal of discomfort in travelling from their homes to the Central London area,
seems to suggest that until ways and means are found to overcome such a state
of affairs, Central London Boroughs will never be able to maintain a full
complement of Public Health Inspectors.
The general shortage of Public Health Inspectors throughout the country
aggravates this situation, and in this respect one must acclaim the proposals