[Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough.

  • Smethwick (Worcestershire, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    40/48 (page 40)
    REPORT OF THE CHIEF SANITARY INSPECTOR SANITARY ADMINISTRATION My rei)ort for last year showed that the amount of sanitary work carried out in tlie department liad created a new record, and this in turn has been surpassed in 1948. INSPECTIONS: Tlie volume of work handled in the dejjartment is best assessed by a reference to Table I, which summarises the insi)ectioiLs made to all typas of premises for all purpo.ses. Last year's new record showed that 23,393 inspections had been made. This year’s inspections have attained the remarkable total of 29,721. re]nesentinK a 27% increase over hist year. Then 1 referred again to the arrears in house maintenance which had accumulated due to the neglect of the war years. This year has shown very substantial ])rogress towards overtaking those arrears. Table 11 show.s the number of sanitary defects recorded and the number remedied. During the post-war years, until now, the number complied has always been a little below the number reported. It followetl that the number on our books was increasing year by year. This year, however, for the first time since the war, the number of defects remedied exceeds the number reiiorted by 4.571. This means two thing.s—(11 the numbers on the books at any given time are considerablj’ less, and (2) the time elaiising between report and com|)liance is being substantially reduced. CO.MPLAINT ILVTE: The number of complaints lodged during the year was 2,382. as compared with 2.049 in the previous year. The steady annual rise in the complaint rate indicates that the .services which the department is able to render are becoming more widely known and appreciated, and this fact facilitates the woik of the department. Comparative figures over the last 20 years are set out below:— Average for 10 pre-war years ... ... ... 788 1939 667 1940 788 1941 673 1942 752 1943 1,015 1944 1,422 1945 1,480 1946 .._. 1,691 1947 2,049 1948 2.382 OVTIRCKOAVDING : A reference to the section on overcrowding shows that at the close of the year 98 cases of overcrowding remained on our register—ten less than at the clo.se of 1947. Acknowledgment must here be made of the assistance received fi-om the Housing Committee and its officers, through whose instrumentality a further 20 seriously overcrowded families were re-ho used.