[Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council.

  • Somerset Council
Date:
1949
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Somerset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    21/104 (page 19)
    NATIONAL HKALTH SERVICE ACT, PiU’ticulars of the M’ork of (he ('oiinty Council, as Local llcallh Authority, under the above Act are given under the following Sections. It is now possible t(j review' a lull years working and to see how the Coindy Council functions ai'e being develoi)ed, and ironi the statistics provided to judge a little of the sncce'ss attained in the inauguration ol new work outlined in the County Council's accei)(ed ])i'oi)osals under the Act. l\Jnch of ihe wajrk reviewed has, of course, been undertaken by the Council for many years, and now falls to be dealt with as obligatory under the National Health Service Act. 'rher(' is therefore a continuity to be observed in this review as well as information on new developments. Cfenerally, there has been steady jirogress towards the implementation of the Acce])ted Proposals, although it will be some time before this process is complete. Sections that are of particular interest as as they deal with new work under tlie Act, are those relating to the Ambulance, and Home Help Services and considerable jjrogress has been made in each instance towards the establishment of a sound and effective service. Section 21. Health Centres. In this connection I cannot do better than repeat my note of last year. Some preliminary work has been done, i)articularly on possible sites for Health Centres in the future. In addition, certain sections of the local medical profession in various areas have been consulted ami their interest in the possibility of Health Centres has been tested. Un the whole, the jjractitioners in these areas are not at all enthusiastic about Health Centres under the present conditions and probably their support of aiiy such spheme, at least in the initial stages, would be poor. It is interesting to note that the practitioners, while holding this view about Health Centres, are most an.xious to secure that they should have easier access to the various ancillary services, such as X-rays and laboratory services. They advance the view that if they were enabled to use such ancillary services at their discretion, the conduct of their practices would not only be simplified but a good deal of additional interest would come into their work. Finally, in Somerset it is clear that Health Centres of any adequate type would have to be built. In my view the conversion of private houses or other existing buildings would be far from satisfactory and might W'ell lead to a very poor class of service for many years. The matter will be kept under consideration and a further report made in due course. Section 22—Care of Mothers and Young Children. Ante Natal and Post Natal Care. The Local Health Authority’s scheme for ante and post natal care continues as in 1948. For those ])atients who do not wish to avail themselves of the National Health Service Executive Council facilities for maternity services, ante natal clinics are provided at Taunton, Weston-super-Mare and Yeo\il, and in other areas two ante natal examinations and one post natal examination by the doctor of the patient’s choice can be arranged, the Health Authority being I'esponsible for payment. Statistics show that, as was to