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I would like to conclude with an expression of regret for the late appearance of this
report. Five vacancies occurred in senior "key" posts at a critical stage of preparation
and the department naturally required time to settle down after they had been filled.
However, this experience emphasised the increasing difficulty of finding time to do justice
to the Annual Report. Much of the material can be gathered in the course of routine work,
but it requires skill and understanding to shape it into a meaningful account of what the
health services are doing, and hope to do, for the public good. This responsibility is
carried by a few senior officers whose full attention is needed for the efficient operation
of the services and for judiciously adaptating them to advancing modern knowledge. We are,
in fact, being faced with the choice between doing the job or writing about it. No one
would wish to whittle away the Annual Report, for it is an invaluable means of communication
with the Council who provide the services and the public who receive them. Indeed we would
wish to explore its potentialities still further: but we have here another problem which
will need early consideration.
It gives me great pleasure to record once again my gratitude to the Committees for
their support and to the staff for their loyal service, which made it possible to achieve
so much..
I am,
Mr.Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
F. ROY DENNISON.
Medical Officer of Health and
Principal School Medical Officer.
Health Department,
225, Romford Road,
Forest Gate, E.7.
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