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7
Preface
Phone PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICES,
VALentine 3401 ILFORD.
July, 1960.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Ilford.
MR. MAYOR, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
I submit herewith the Annual Report of the Health
Services for the year 1959.
In this report I intend to make my preface brief,
dealing mainly with the difficulties of the water supply in the
eastern part of the borough. A feature that has led to this
brevity is my policy of trying to make individual officers
express their own opinions as to various developments. The
Chief Public Health Inspector has some interesting ideas on
the relationship of the Public Health Inspectorate to the
Police; Miss Copping, Welfare Worker for the Aged, has as
usual some most decided and personal views. A newcomer
is Dr. Taylor, Assistant County Medical Officer, appointed
to devote an appreciable portion of his time to health education.
His views on the success and failure of different
forms of such education are interesting and provocative.
Officers are appointed to do their jobs properly, not
to write entertainingly about them, so it cannot be expected
that all have equal facility with the pen, therefore I hope
that it will not be taken as a slur that I do not mention each
one individually. In particular one group have not been asked
to write at all, the administrative staff. This is because
although the maintenance of the public health depends to an
enormous extent on their efficiency the general public cannot
be said to be much interested in the internal workings
of the department.
A FEW STATISTICS
In 1958 the infant mortality rate of 16. 6 deaths per
1,000 births caused me to comment that it would be