[Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough.

  • Hastings (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1952
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1952] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/80 (page 16)
    in larger and more complex areas. The Hastings Group Hospital Management Committee covers a rather larger area than the county borough, but its ad- ministration and main hospitals are within the borough. The Hastings Executive Council, covering general medical, dental and pharmaceutical services, also cover a larger area than the borough, but again the majority of its service is within the borough. One Local Health Authority, one Hospital Management Committee, one Executive Council, covering one area would appear the simplest yet most effective combination in the administration of the National Health Services. Co-operation and co-ordination is greatly assisted by the fact that many members of the three main committees concerned serve on more than one of them, and in some cases on all three. At officer level, the same considerations apply : one Medical Officer of Health, one Secretary to the Group Hospital Management Committee, one Clerk to the Executive Council. The degree of co-operation depends largely on personalities, and I am most happy to record easy harmonious working between these three departments. A Joint Advisory Committee was formed consisting of three members of each of the three bodies concerned together with the officers enumerated, and held its first meeting on the 2nd April, 1951 : the committee has not in fact found it necessary to meet very often owing to lack of items for the agenda—-this to my mind is largely due to the co-ordination and co- operation already achieved by so many prominent citizens being members of two or more of the bodies and to the close and cordial liaison between the officers, whereby the very few incipient difficulties which have threatened are smoothed away before reaching maturity. The Medical Officer of Health is a member of the Group Medical Com- mittee, Local Medical Committee and Local Obstetric Committee, as well as of the B.M.A. Executive Committee, and attends all meetings of the Hospital Management Committee and Executive Council. He is in addition a member of a hospital House Committee. He is, therefore, in the closest possible contact with all three branches of the National Service, and in a position to advise on any point which requires co-ordination. Excellent relations pertain between the Health Department staff on one hand and both hospitals (consultants and almoners) and general practitioners on the other. Information is freely exchanged where indicated in the interests of the patient, particularly as affecting the school health service, home help and domiciliary nursing services and the general welfare of both old and handi- capped persons. Use is made of the Health Visitors by hospital almoners where certain types of “ field ” information is needed, and certain hospital clinics are attended by them, details of this work being given in the paragraph on the work of the Health Visitors : the Mental Health Worker attends the weekly psychiatric out- patient clinic. There is scope for much increased use by the hospitals of the Health Visitors’ intimate knowledge of families and their home conditions, and there are considerable possibilities in the direct use of Health Visitors by general practitioners. This latter ideal cannot at present be operated owing to the very heavy case load which the Health Visitors already carry. Domiciliary midwives work closely with the general practitioners who undertake obstetrics, and the District Nurses work in direct liaison with them also. There have been few or no difficulties in this respect. The public are kept informed of the services available through the Local Authority in a number of ways—directly through their contact with the Health Visitors in the homes of the people and clinics, through frequent talks by the medical staff to organisations in the town, and when necessary by the willing co-operation of the local press. A booklet was issued to all householders when the National Health Service came into being detailing all the available Local Authority services and the means of securing them : a new booklet is in printing for distribution to key persons containing information on the services provided by all three branches of the Service—this joint booklet being produced