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6
councils. The Middlesex County Council, however, acted not under this
clause, but under another which authorised the Health Committee of
the Local Health Authority, i.e., the Middlesex County Council, to authorise
any sub-committee to exercise on their behalf any functions of the
Health Committee. The county has been divided into ten areas, for
each of which has been appointed an area committee, which as a subcommittee
of the local health committee of the County Council will be
responsible for the day-to-day administration of certain of the health
services of the County Council in the area covered by the Area Committee.
The Committee consists of local councillors, county councillors
and co-opted members. In every part of the county except Harrow the
Area Committee serves an area which will include two or more county
districts. In the case of Harrow, however, the Area Committee is responsible
for the services only of this area. The result of these changes,
then, will be that of the health services provided by local government
authorities in this district, the environmental services will be the
responsibility of the Harrow Council acting through its Public Health
Committee ; certain of the school health services will be provided by the
local divisional executive (the Harrow Council plus some co-opted members),
acting through its General Purposes and Finance Sub-Committee ;
and some of the maternity, child welfare and midwifery services by the
Local Area Committee (comprising local councillors, county councillors
and co-opted members) acting as a sub-committee of the Health Committee
of the County Council. Besides these, there will be the health services
provided by the County Council themselves throughout the entire county.
Over and above all these services will be the wide range of institutional
service provided by the Minister of Health through the Regional Hospital
Boards ; and the general medical services, the responsibility of the
Executive Council.
This is the position in Harrow which, as has been seen, is the only
district in the county covered by an Area Committee. The position is
still more confusing in other parts where for a time there may be in the
area covered by an Area Committee two district councils providing the
environmental services, two councils acting as divisional executives and
providing some of the school health services, but only one Area Committee
responsible for the maternity and child welfare and the midwifery services.
Where the Area Committee covers more than two districts, the
complications are even more marked. Order will in time, however,
come out of this chaos. Firstly, the treatment part of the school health
service is the responsibility of the Local Area Committee, leaving as a duty
of the Divisional Executive not much more than the responsibility for
arranging the medical and dental inspection of the school children. These
functions must in time pass to the Area Committee, and the school health
service become completely integrated with the other aspects of the general
health service. Then with the passage of time the officers responsible
for the personal services in each of the county areas will probably be
those responsible for the administration of the environmental services in
each of the county districts comprising the county areas. Even though
legislation might be necessary to bring it about, the position can be
visualised that all the health services in each of these areas will be provided
by the one set of officers for each area under the one committee