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Consultation with the general practitioner prior to referring a patient to a consultant
has already been referred to. Senior medical officers find general practitioners very
helpful when they approach them to discuss such things as arrangements for the care of
handicapped children, the suitability of persons wishing to adopt children, children
excluded from day nurseries on account of Illness and many other similar matters. The
steady development of the after-care services, especially the provision of recuperative
holidays, has done much to foster this relationship and it is hoped that this will grow
with the further development of the service, particularly in the field of mental health.
Consultation with the representatives of the general practitioners takes place through
the medium of the statutory Local Medical Committee and more Informally through a medical
liaison committee which also includes hospital medical representatives.
Liaison with other departments of the Local Authority and with Central Government Departments.
Needless to say the closest co-operation exists between the officers of the Health
Department and the other departments of the Local Authority. Without this co-operation the
public health inspectorate would be in a difficult position in dealing with problems arising
out of defective houses and drainage; many medico-social cases might not come to the notice
of the Housing Officer; and many of the problems relating to old people, epileptics and
otherwise handicapped people, would remain unsolved without the assistance of the Chief Welfare
Officer. Officers of the Health & Children's Departments are in almost daily consultation
regarding children whose home circumstances are unsatisfactory or whose parents are not in a
position to give them adequate care. The officers of the National Assistance Board are frequently
consulted and always very helpful.
Liaison within the Health Department.
The practice has gradually been increasing during recent years of holding regular consultations
with various groups of staff on departmental matters affecting their own particular
functions. It has been found preferable, in the rather complicated structure of the health
services, to keep such subjects separate from staffing questions related to conditions of
service which are more appropriately the concern of the general staff advisory committee. The
machinery for consultation along these lines is not yet complete and must obviously be limited
both by the amount of time which can reasonably be devoted to it and by the number of occasions
on which it Is possible to gather the particular group of staff together - it is distinctly
difficult, for instance, to muster staff providing a 24-hour service such as the midwives - but
opportunities for developing this kind of liaison are considered as they arise,
Liaison with Voluntary Organisations,
The Health Department is represented on the West Ham Clean Pood Advisory Association, the West
Ham County Borough Old People's Welfare Committee, and the West Ham Tuberculosis After-care
Committee. The former has done most useful work in the promotion of clean food handling practise
while the latter has provided, to the extent of its resources, those services at present not
available under any local authority scheme. The tuberculosis health visitors bring to the notice
of the Committee the needs of patients and their families and these have been largely met by the
Committee. The Conferences on Children Neglected or Ill-treated in their Own Homes have served
a most useful purpose by outlining the action which is needed in individual cases. This has
avoided the considerable overlapping of effort which existed prior to the holding of the discussions.
This department is also greatly indebted to the Invalid Children's Aid Association, the
oraen s Voluntary Services, the National Association for Mental Health, the South West Ham Health
Society, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Canning Town Women's
Settlement, the Chelmsford Diocesan Moral Welfare Association, the Committee of St.Agatha's Hostel,
the Central Council for Health Education, and many other voluntary organisations.
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