View report page

7
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER
OF HEALTH
Health, Welfare & Children's Department,
Hanover House,
Lyon Road,
Harrow, Middlesex.
To His Worship the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
London Borough of Harrow.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report on the Health and
Sanitary Conditions of the district and on the health, welfare and children's
services provided by the Borough for the year 1966.
In line with the pattern set by the Council's decision in 1965 to
combine the Health, Welfare and Children's Services of the Borough the
process of amalgamating the three services into one composite department
continued in 1966.
The National Health Service Act of 1946 has been criticised because
with it evolved the tripartite arrangement of Hospital Services, General
Medical Services and the Local Authority Services which in the beginning
all seemed to work in water-tight compartments with little liaison between
them. With the passing of the years, there is much evidence of a "coming
together" of these three services, much to the benefit of the public for
whose assistance they were designed. In a similar way a tripartite system
seemed to exist within the Local Authority Services in that various
aspects of the social services were split up between the Health, Welfare
and Children's Services. Fundamentally all three services were dealing
with the same unit, i.e. the family. It seemed logical, therefore, that the
"coming together" theme should be pursued even further by combining
these three services into one charged with the task of promoting Family
Care and achieving the same objectives with economies both in staff" and
effort.
It soon became evident that the personnel of the three services, who
in the past had each tended to "plough their own (jealous?) furrow" in
their speciality, were realising that other allied services had a part to play
in the common task of family care. During the year there has been ample
evidence of the case in which liaison can be established and co-operation
over an agreed course of action can be achieved in a combined Health,
Welfare and Children's Department. It is submitted that this combination
of effort must only be to the ultimate benefit of the public in general and
prove that the Council made a wise decision in April 1965. Finally the
amalgamation of the Borough's services should undoubtedly prove
helpful in the general task of trying to integrate even further the Hospital,
General Medical and Local Authority Services.