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BOROUGH OF BRENTFORD AND CHISWICK
Public Health Department
Town Hall, Chiswick, W 4
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Borough of Brentford and Chiswick
Mr Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen
I have the honour to present the 37th and last report on the health of
the population of the Borough of Brentford and Chiswick as the amalgamation of
the Borough with Heston & Isleworth and Feltham to form the new London Borough
of Hounslow takes place on 1st April 1965
This Report has had to be prepared without correlation with the calculated
statistics from the Registrar-General or the Department of Scientific and Industrial
Research because the book had to be finished before the end of March and
these statistics are not available so early in the year However any variation
is likely to be of small importance
The health of the people has continued to be good The birth rate, the
death rate and the infant mortality rate all fell, and there was no outbreak
of infectious disease
Brentford and Chiswick has maintained a good record with regard to infectious
disease national waves of infection usually reaching the Borough late,
and subsiding rapidly
Work has been routine during the year and comment on individual sections
of the service can be found in the appropriate chapters of this book.
At this moment it seems a good thing to study the progress of public health
in the Borough since the onset of the last War a period of 25 years
Prom 1339 to 1948 the Public Health Department controlled the Environmental
Service, the Maternity and Child Welfare Service, the School Health Service and
the Ambulance Service In 1948 resulting from the National Health Service Act,
the Maternity and Child Welfare Service and the School Health Service control
were taken over by the County Council and managed in Areas, Brentford and Chiswick
being included in an area having also Southall and Heston and Isleworth, The
Ambulance Service was taken by the County and management centralised.
There has been steady improvement in the services for the control of infectious
disease, for the inspection and improvement of the homes and workplaces
of the people, for the supervision of hygienic production, importation, and
handling of food so as to prevent dirty or diseased food causing disorder or
disease to the people. These services were disrupted neither by War nor by the
National Health Service Act
But the Maternity and Child Welfare Services and the School Health Service,
which had continued triumphantly and successfully through the War years in spite
of air raids, limited amount of time in winter because of black-out requirements,
and need for staff to carry out supplementary duties of many kinds because of
the demands of War were shattered by the impactofthe new legislation. While
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