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METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF STEPNEY
Tel: No. PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
STEpney Green 24-84 43> White Horse Road,
Stepney, E.l.
To The Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of
the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney.
Your Worship, Ladies 2c. Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the report on the state of the public
health in Stepney for the year 1961. Compiled this year, the report
appertains to the last year of office of my predecessor, Dr.F.R.O'Shiel,
who retired earlier in the year after 26 years' service as Medical
Officer of Health to the borough. He gave, in the report for I960., a
survey of the changes and progress made during his term of office; it
seems opportune to consider developing fields of work in the public
health sphere.
Housing still presents problems. Without adequate provision of
good housing accommodation, wholesome family life, in which the foundations
are laid for physical, mental and social wellbeing, can seldom be
achieved. Along with the provision of new houses runs a need to
provide amenities in the many sub-standard tenement blocks which will
remain with us for some years to come. Many of these lack such basic
amenities as running water within each dwelling. Whilst much of the
borough is undergoing redevelopment, derelict sites will be with us.
Their incorporation into temporary use as open spaces for which there
is a great need in this part of London would be beneficial.
Tuberculosis remains a challenge, as does cancer of the lung, to
the preventive medical services. About one-fifth of the lung tuberculosis
notifications in 1961 consisted of occupants of common lodging
houses, seamen's hostels and other accommodation provided for persons
having no fixed place of residence in the metropolis. Tuberculosis
has now become a preventable disease by use of the new forms of therapy
combined with vigorous case and contact finding.
Health education receives much lip service, in an era when personal
decision increasingly must determine levels of health efficiency. For
example, in respect of food hygiene, education of the food handlers
(via the large food firms and food shops) can only be effective if the
general public is educated to expect and demand proper handling and
display of food products. Similarly, community action to reduce atmospheric
pollution continues by the provision of Smoke Control Areas
(the fourth is now being surveyed), but personal pollution by cigarette
smoking (with its concomitant risk of increased liability to cancer of
the lung) can only be reduced by individual decision. The 'will of
the people is the highest law' in the sense that legislation, to be
effective, must carry with it the force of public opinion.
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