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8
This move of unification can be welcomed in that, in theory, it does
away with one of the major criticisms of the National Health Service
Act 1946. This was the tendency for health services to work in a tri-partite
arrangement of hospital, general medical and local health authority
services, with resulting difficulties in communication between the three
branches. Over the years, there has been much evidence of a "coming
together" of these three services by means of liaison schemes and attachment
of local authority personnel both to hospital departments and
general practice. At the same time, there has also been a coming together
of the health and the social services in realisation of the fact that case
problems, be they individuals or family groups, usually have a sociomedical
background and that the comprehensive care of the citizens
depends very much on both services. Unification has been achieved in
the personal social services by bringing them together under the new
Social Services Committees of the local authorities and presumably this
will also be achieved in the health service in 1974—the main difference
being that the controlling body will not be the same—in other words, a
bi-partite service will be set up ! It must therefore be very obvious that
to realise and maintain a comprehensive care of the citizen as outlined
above strong and binding links between the health and social services
will be of fundamental importance. Matching boundaries between the
new health authorities and the local authorities providing personal social
services have been promised. Therefore, one would hope that in the
London area, the area health authority will cover the boundary of one
local authority only. At the present moment, these issues and others concerning
the amalgamation of the health services are being considered by
working groups set up by the Department of Health and Social Security
and it goes without saying that the results of their deliberations are
awaited with great interest by all staff concerned. This inter-dependence
of the health service and the social services was stressed in L.A.S.S.L.
33/71 where the Secretary of State for Social Services brought to the
special attention of local authorities the need for the preservation and
extension at all levels of the close working relationships which are of the
first importance to the effectiveness of both services.
In addition to the foregoing, during the year, several other circulars
were issued by Government Departments on various aspects of the
services.
Circular 8/71 set out the timetable for the Welfare Foods Order
1971, which implemented the Government's decisions on new arrangements
for the provision of welfare milk and foods and revoked the Welfare
Foods Order 1958. From the 1st April, 1971, the provision of cheap
welfare milk for expectant mothers and young children ceased but entitlement
to free milk and food was extended. Free cod liver oil and orange
juice ceased to be available from the 30th April and 31st December 1971
respectively, being replaced by Vitamins A and D drops for children and
a reconstituted A, D and C tablet for mothers.