[Report 1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council.

  • Somerset Council
Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/52 (page 2)
    REPORT ON THE STATE OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN SOMERSET. In llie eight ye;a’b in winch I liave been in Sumerset, jnany matters and happenings of importance have occurred, and these tall more or less in pre-war, u ar, and now, post-war periods. It IS with some dilhcnlty that one looks hack on (,hc time before the war; this 1 think is largely due to recent times being so engnlhng and strenuous that they cloud the memory even over so short, and yet, by circumstances, so long a iieriod as the last six years. Nevertheless, to me it does not seem inaiipropriate to take some brief lurm of stocktaking now; if we fail to do so, then much of the work accomplished in tliese jieriods will not be recorded; such a stocktaking, inadequate though it may well he, may show some of the accomplishments of your County Health department; it may also show some of its deficiencies; it may demonstrate how in soixie instances we are winning the battle against disease, while in others, our etforts (and this often through war circumstances and their resiiltsj are directed to holding our ground with little indica¬ tion of forward progress, and, in one or two instances, there may he unhappy proof that, for the moment, we have lost control of one or two situations. In the jire-war period, 1 came to a Department solidly based and well equipped to deal with the i’ubhc Health problems of the day. We had an etlicieiit and adequate staff, the services ran smoothly, and we held the trust of the public which we served. 1 felt, therefore, that i was indeed well jilaced to look towards deveiopments and extensions in all the services, and that 1 had the good fortune to he in charge ol a hrst-class administrative unit of Public Health. 1 very soon realised that all this structure liatl been built up through the wise advice of perhaps the clearest thinking County Medical Ufiiccr of Health of our time, and built it was through years when pioneer effort was required. It was clear to me also that all such outstanding work would have come to nothing if it had not been for the generous way in which this advice was received, accepted, and put into operation by the Health Committee and the County Council. These two circumstances combined to give Somerset a place of repute and standing in the field of Public Health in this country. In the pre-war period there was, therefore, in Somerset a well-balanced Health Service with a proper adjustment between its environmental and personal sides of hygiene. This was remarkable in the sense that most County Health Departments of that time could not show this balance. Health Departments were for the most part heavily weighed in their activities on the side of the personal services—Maternity and Child Welfare, School Medicine, Tuberculosis, Hospital Services, and so forth, and they were too little concerned with the fundamental environ¬ mental factors on which all Public Health depends — the work concerning Nutrition, Housing, Water, Milk and Food Supplies, and Drainage and Sewerage. These basic services of environmental hygiene were at this time well ahead in this County; not only were these things properly valued and appreciated, but, in several ways, most useful links in joint working had been established with the various District and other Councils in the County. In these ways, much progress had been made in Somerset over the extension of water supplies; at that time piped water su])phes in rural areas were little known, and, though much still remained to be rlone, this position in Somerset was relatively satisfactory, and, certainly in advance of must rural counties in England. Again, much valuable work had been done in fin- proving standards in the production and distribution of milk, and few opportunities were lost of hammering home I he urgent need of a safe and a clean milk as a vital item in the advancement of nutrition. Housing had been tackled, and usually by advice, sometimes by more active measures, improvements in existing housing, and the jtrovision of new housing, were going ahead. Drainage and Sewerage problems showing' a danger to Public Health had been examined, and, here again, a good deal of irnprovcinent had resulted. It is true, I think, to say that at this time much had been done on these environmental health matters, and schemes were well in hand to proceed still further in these activities.