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5
have duties and provide services fundamental to health but not falling
to the administration of the Public Health Committee. A recent waterborne
outbreak of typhoid fever was a reminder of the necessity for ever
watchful care in the distribution of water. An outbreak of typhoid fever
and an outbreak of dysentery just before the war were reminders of the
risks run by the community if every precaution is not taken in the disposal
of sewage. The complaints of householders during the war about the
collection of house refuse and the nuisances from pig bins again are
reminders of what is so readily forgotten when the service is provided
smoothly and efficiently. Aspects as widely separated as efficient street
cleansing and the provision of parks and open spaces where might be
enjoyed recreation or leisure are amongst the health services provided
by a community.
This report though, deals more essentially with those health services
provided by the staff of the Public Health Department. These may be
grouped into three. The first comprises the functions of a sanitary
authority exercising powers it has inherited from legislation passed in the
last quarter of the last century, and may be grouped into those relating
to environmental hygiene, the sanitation of food and drink, and the
control of the spread of infectious disease. The first two of these three
groups are the concern of the sanitary inspectors. From the body of
the report it can be seen that they are concerned particularly with housing
conditions, with the supervision of the distribution of food, including
milk, and with the control of nuisances and other factors injurious to
the health of the community. Working under the Chief Sanitary Inspector,
Mr. S. N. King, are six district inspectors, each of whom is responsible
for the hygienic conditions of his own area.
The next main classification of the health functions of the Council is
the very widely embracing maternity and child welfare service which the
Council provides under its powers as welfare authority, a term brought
into use by the Public Health Act, 1936, replacing that previously used,
maternity and child welfare authority. Starting as a service which dealt
with infants, it extended its scope to include the care of children up to the
age of five, and. extending backwards through the ante-natal supervision
of expectant mothers, enlarged its activities so that it provided for the
care of expectant and nursing mothers. An extension resulted in the
making of arrangements for the confinement, either in the home or in an
institution. The maternity and child welfare service is maintained by
the activities of the health visitors of whom there are 15, working under
the superintendent, Mrs. D. Brace. Their duties comprise home visiting
of infants and children up to five, and of expectant and nursing mothers,
and clinic attendances, including infant welfare, toddlers and ante-natal
sessions. The clinics themselves are staffed mostly by the four medical
officers of the authority, though the services of general medical practitioners
acting in a part-time capacity are required to ensure that the
forty-odd sessions of different kinds held each week are manned by
doctors. The domiciliary midwifery service is provided by a staff of 16
midwives working under their superintendent, Miss M. Carpenter. As
to the provision of arrangements for institutional confinements, although
as welfare authority possessing the legal powers to do what other