[Report 1961] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Southport County Borough.

  • Southport (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1961
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1961] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Southport County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/126 (page 6)
    The new combined Training School, operated jointly by the Southport and District Hospital Management Committee together with the Preston and Southport Local Authorities, began to function during the year, and provided local approved training facilities for the Part 2 Certificate of the Central Midwives Boar d. The service which the local authority provides for the care of mothers and young children gives a great oppor¬ tunity for education in matters of health. Particular advantage can be taken of this in the Child Welfare Centres, and it is of note that the mothers in the Marshside area made a| special request during the year for centre facilities to be made available nearer to the Radnor Drive area, than the centre at Crossens. At the time of the implementation of the^ 1946 National Health Service Act, it was thought by many doctors that this work would i# vanish when every child was entitled to be registered with a family doctor. However,^fJt experience has shown that these clinics are very popular with young mothers, even when) held in unsuitable buildings, and latterly there has been a tendency for attendances to rise.||{ In Southport, one of the chief functions of these clinics is to encourage parents to accept|^|j immunisation against such diseases as smallpox, poliomyelitis and diphtheria for their) children. Work on the proposed new Child Welfare Centre in the Birkdale area on the]:., Lincoln House site has not yet begun as was hoped, but it is very likely that a start will ber' made early in 1962. The Government altered the arrangements during the year for the supply of welfareij foods, such as orange juice, cod liver oil and vitamins, which are available for children andii^^ young mothers. The result has been a considerable fall in the demand for these welfare ? foods, and also to some extent for National Dried Milk. It seems unlikely, however, that the nutrition of the babies will suffer, but one would like to be assured that ail babies in the::E town are getting their minimum requirements of protective vitamins. It is probable that I the dietary standard of most households is now sufficiently good to ensure the adequate jij nutrition of children. None of us would like to see a return of the nutritional diseases,||{ such as rickets and scurvy, which affected so many children 30 to 40 years ago. |[ I cannot allow this opportunity to pass without saying that the steadily increasing work which the Department is being called upon to do cannot be performed efficiently in the present buildings. No progress has been made during the year in the plans to^ improve the accommodation for the various services. This matter was considered in 1959! and has been in abeyance since then pending a decision about the building of the new ^ Town Hall. It is, in my view, essential, if full efficiency is to be obtained, not to divorce; | the administrative offices from the central clinics. Therefore, if it is decided to incorporate) the Health Department in the proposed new Town Hall, it should be done by housing the;! office and clinic accommodation together, in a separate wing of the new building. There is; much to be said for retaining a separate Health Department in new buildings on theii present site at 2 Church Street—44/46 Hoghton Street, which has been used for so long'i for Health Services. I wish to express my thanks to the members of the Council, as well as to my medical:: colleagues in the town for their support and consideration throughout the year. The staff i; also deserve the thanks of the Council, and of myself, for the constant efforts which they I put forth to give good service. I am. Yours faithfully, G. N. M. WISHART, Medical Officer of Health. \