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6
In Redbridge, I hope 1969 and 1970 will be remembered in future years from a
medical aspect as the years when our first Health Centre and District General Hospital
were started (the centre) and inspired (the district general hospital) at King George
Hospital site. There can seldom have been such appreciative unanimity in the borough
as was disclosed when the Borough Council offered to consider exchanging land at
Newbury Park for the building of a district general hospital. The local authority would
be delighted to have a hospital to serve the borough itself, rather than that the citizens
would have to travel to one of three hospitals outside the borough and one on its western
edge. The general practitioners would be glad that a local hospital would serve their
own and their patients' interests; the hospital staff at King George Hospital would be
happy and relieved that the future of the hospital and its staff was assured and the
Regional Hospital Board pleased to be taken off the hook should they impose a site
elsewhere, unwelcome to so many local interests. The location on one site of a district
general hospital, a health centre, training facilities for medical students in general
practice and maybe later a post-graduate medical centre and vocational training facilities
for graduates would enhance the medical reputation of the borough and make a national
planning impact. Incidentally, it is generally known that the medical profession are
adamant that they do not want "town hall interference" in running the health services.
Here is a significant example of how wrong they can be, if they are rescued by the "town
hall" from outside planners.
Inevitably, mention must be made of the Local Authority Social Services Act that
will produce a Social Services Committee and Director of Social Services. It confers a
boon, in that most (not all)social services are to be brought under one umbrella by dissolving
the Children's Department, and in unprogressive boroughs, where Health and
Welfare are separated (unlike Redbridge) bringing certain of their functions together. The
advantages to combined Health and Welfare Departments are, however, much more slender,
and in many cases retrogressive. No amount of semantic somersaults, for instance, can
conceal the fact that in Redbridge now the handicapped child is cared for by two departments,
Education and combined Health and Welfare, and in the future will be cared for by
three departments, Education, Health and Social Services. This is, in certain circles,
called progress and unification.
Again, I must thank my staff, often overworked, for their loyal support and continued
efforts in spite of the threats and uncertainties that the future holds. Co-operation and
help from colleagues in other departments has been outstanding. I trust the Chairmen
and Councillors involved with our work have appreciated our efforts. We, on our side,
have been grateful for their support and understanding, a situation which does not always
hold, so hearsay tells, in many other authorities, as it does in Redbridge.