View report page

7
effort until all families are suitably housed, not only living in accommodation
which is structurally sound but having enough of that so that
there is no overcrowding. At long last the drive for the purification of
the atmosphere is really on even though in some areas there would appear
to be little enthusiasm for it. The improvement in all these different ways
serves only to emphasize those conditions which today are causing so
much disability and premature decease. To replace the past epidemics of
infectious ailments, there are what some describe as the modern epidemics—coronary
thrombosis, peptic ulceration, certain forms of cancer,
chronic rheumatism, diabetes mellitus, asthma, eczema and the psychoneuroses.
Of these, special reference is made in this report to cancer of the
lung. The change in outlook of those in the public health service is
stressed by the reference to the subject of hazards of radiation. It will
perhaps never be the responsibility of local authorities to set up any
system of monitoring the air, water or foodstuffs and it will probably
always remain a matter of responsibility of a Government Department to
ensure the whole country is protected against major risks of accidents or
from the disposal of waste products. But it must surely become the
responsibility of the local authority to take the first steps of setting in
train the machinery in the event of an accident such as the loss of some
radio-active material. They cannot do that unless they have been made
aware of the amounts and the locations of potentially dangerous products
in their areas. Until they know of these, they cannot be in a position to
anticipate trouble or to plan what should be done in the event of an
incident.
Another subject dealt with at length is that of the care of the aged.
District councils were divested in 1948 of all responsibilities in regard to
the personal services. Nevertheless, they have certain statutory powers
to deal with the aged. It is the Medical Officer of Health of the district who
applies to the Court for an order under Section 47 of the National Assistance
Act for the compulsory removal to hospital or welfare home of certain
classes of person. It is the local authority which can arrange for the
burial or cremation when no other person or body is making these
arrangements. It is the local authority too which can act under Section
84 of the Public Health Act 1936 to provide a limited laundry service in
certain circumstances. Beyond this the local authority as such cannot go,
directly. Indirectly though, by supporting such a voluntary body as the
Old People's Welfare Committee, it can provide quite an extensive service
for those people who it would seem are not the responsibility of the
Welfare Department of the County Council. That there should have been
this development in recent years suggests that the wholesale transfer of
personal services from local authorities to local health authorities,
administratively tidy as this arrangement might have been, was not the
wisest of steps.
This last year saw the tenth anniversary of the coming into operation
of the National Health Service Act, an Act which amongst other things
deprived this district and others like it of the privilege of providing
certain personal services which it had up to this maintained efficiently
and economically. There was much uneasiness about the change. The
fears of those who were despondent have been realised. In July, 1956 the