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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the London Borough of Hounslow
I have the honour to present the fourth Annual
Report on the health of the people living in
the London Borough of Hounslow on the
health services provided by the Borough for
the year 1968 and the proposals for future
improvements and developments
Intense pressure of work on new buildings
and services has prevented an earlier
publication of this report
Readers will find a comprehensive account
of the Borough s activities in the fields of
health and preventive medicine in the text of
the report and I shall therefore confine myself
to highlighting certain of the major events and
the more unusual and original ideas and
developments in services and research which
have taken place during a very active year for
the department
The full implementation of the National
Health Service (Family Planning) Act 1967
by tha Borough Council to provide a family
planning service for all borough residents
needing it on non medical as well as medical
grounds through the agency of the Family
Planning Association has resulted in an
expansion and extension of this important
service There has been a further welcome
decrease in illegitimate births in the borough
from 306 in 1967 (340 in 1966) to 280 in 1968
and in addition only 37 unsupported mothers
were admitted to mother and baby homes
compared with 79 in 1967
During March health centres were very
much in the news when both Brentford and
Spring Road Feltham health centres were
officially opened within two weeks of one
another by His Worship the Mayor of Hounslow
who also attended the ceremony laid on by
the contractors Y J Lovell (Bucks ) Ltd
to mark the commencement of the building of
the large twelve doctor health centre complex
at 92 Bath Road Hounslow it is contorting
to note that the Royal Commissi on on Medical
Education (Todd Report) published in 1968
actually recommends twelve surgery centres
as the size to be aimed at for the optimal
combination of personal patient care with
medical technical and administrative
efficiency With adequate accommodation it
should be possible for more of these much
recommended family doctor teams to become
a reality in the area in the foreseeable future
The urgently needed development of
integrated hospital and community psychiatric
services for both the mentally ill and the
mentally handicapped continued at a rapid
pace and the borough can now justifiably claim
to be in the van of progress in both these fields
though much still requires to be done Joint
hospital and local health authority appointments
of consultant psychiatric and social worker
staff and the provision of comprehensive mixed
units at the parent psychiatric hospital
exclusively for Hounslow patients has done much
to make the service more successful and humane
Currently these mixed wards provide continuous
care for patients from admission to discharge
irrespective of diagnosis and clinical s;ate and
approximate to the general hospital plan put
forward by the Department of Health and Social
Security The fact that referrals during the year
of patients to hospital have dropped significantly
despite increased numbers being looked after in
the community speaks for itself
The official opening by His Worship the Mayor
of Hounslow of the new Hanworth Junior Training
School and Special Care Unit, the completion of
the Weekly Boarding Unit for fourteen mentally
handicapped children at Hanworth the new
building at Acton Lodge Adult Training Centre
containing laundry domestic science room and
gymnasium the Day Centre for forty elderly
confused patients at Heston, and the commencement
of the Heston long term home for fourteen mentally
handicapped children the twenty-five place hostel
for mentally disordered adults at 3edfont the
fi fty place day centre/hospital for those recovering
from mental illness and the new child psychiatric
and guidance unit mark 1968 as a memorable year
for the provision of such services in the area
In addition I am glad to report that the high
quality diagnostic and therapeutic services
provided by the borough s doctors psychologists,
nurses speech therapists, physiotherapists
audiometricians and orthoptist to the special
schools and special units have now been provided
to an equally high standard at the two junior
training schools and special care units It would
be difficult to find an equivalent service else
where
As a direct result of the concern expressed in
last year s report about children with delayed
speech Dr Moya Tyson: senior psycholigist for
special schools and special units Mrs Cox
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