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HEALTH EDUCATION
Health Education was carried out through the year on general subjects all the time and
at particular seasons with more concentration on topical subjects, for instance, atmospheric
pollution as a greater problem during the winter, food infection in the summer. This
work consisted of talks to individual persons, talks to selected groups, leaflet and poster
publicity. In addition to making use of the Department's film strip projector during talks
to special groups, another device to assist the lecturer and make more clear the meaning of
a subject was brought into use. This was the flannelgraph, which has been found very
effective in school teaching and seems to be likely to be equally helpful for public health
propaganda. In the early part of the year, a request was made from the Education Department
for some hygiene instruction for the Canteen workers in the School Meals Service.
Following this request, a course was arranged and began, in the early part of the summer,
with a general talk and film strip demonstration to the assembled canteen workers, and on
this occasion a coloured film strip on food hygiene prepared by the Medical Officer of Health
of Ealing, was used. Time was allowed for discussion at the end of the meeting. Following
this inaugural talk, the District Sanitary Inspectors arranged to visit each school canteen
individually in order to explain the rules of hygiene as they applied at the particular premises
and to answer questions which might have been raised in the minds of the workers during
the general talk.
ESTABLISHMENTS FOR MASSAGE AND SPECIAL TREATMENT
Ten establishments were inspected for licence under this heading and all were found
satisfactory for the purpose which was intended. Details are as follows :—
Purpose No. of Licences
Chiropody only 5
Massage, Chiropody and Electrical Treatment 5
MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF BOROUGH COUNCIL EMPLOYEES
During 1954, a total of 85 medical examinations were carried out on applicants for
Borough Council employment or members of the Borough Council staff. These examinations
were carried out with regard to suitability for employment on the Council's permanent
staff, for entry into the Sickness Pay Scheme, or for review after prolonged periods of sick
leave.
SANITARY CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE BOROUGH
Water Supply and Water Services
Water is supplied to nearly the whole of the district by the South-West Suburban
Water Company. The Metropolitan Water Board supplies a small area in the southern
part of the district, and the Rickmansworth & Uxbridge Valley Water Company a small
area in the northern part. The supply is satisfactory, both in quality and quantity. Reports
on sampling carried out by the Metropolitan Water Board are issued from time to time. A
sample of drinking water which had been the subject of complaint was taken from one house
during the year for bacteriological examination and reported as satisfactory. All inhabited
houses are supplied from public water mains and there are no standpipes in use on mains.
Sanitary Inspections of the District
The total number of inspections of premises made during the year by the Sanitary
Inspectors was 7,593. There is an all round reduction in the figures of inspection carried
out except for infectious disease contacts investigations. Although there was a shortage of
two Sanitary Inspectors throughout the year, all matters of urgency or arising from complaints
were investigated immediately.
Table XII gives an analysis of the number and nature of such inspections.
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