[Report 1941-1942] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough.
- Smethwick (Worcestershire, England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1942
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1941-1942] / Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![REPORT OF THE CHIEF SANITARY INSPECTOR FOR THE YEARS 1941 and 1942. This Eepoi't for the years 1941 and 1942 shows tlie work of the Sanitary Inspectors’ Uepartnient under the impact of war conditions. It may be taken as typical of the nork performed during the two previous years. t OMPLAINTS. The investigation of complaints made to the Department is work which is essential. Practically all complainants have a legitimate grievance and they naturally turn to the Sanitary Inspector (who is a familiar figure in his district) for redress. In most cases action is taken to get the cause of the comjjlaint remedied, but in every case a sympa¬ thetic hearing is given and it is extremely rare that a person making a complaint is left with a feeling of disappointment. This service is important in war-time. When the individual has to sufl'er the strains of food restriction, black-out conditions and other hardshi])s, it i)lays an essential i)art in tlie maintenance of public morale. No doubt it Avas for this reason, combined with the fact that Sanitary Inspectors carry out many disease-preventing and health-iAromoting duties, that an arrangement Avas entered into betAveen the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Health that every Local Authority should he alloAved to retain the seiwices of their Sanitary Inspectors regardless of reservation age. The nundier of coinidaints made at the Pujilic Health Dciiartment Avas 673 in 1941 ai\d 752 in 1942. The number received in the ten ))re- Avar years aA'eraged 788; in 1939 the nundicr Avas 667 and in 1940, 788. The number of complaints per thousand houses for the Avhole Borough Avas 32.12 in 1941 and -35.88 in 1942; the corresponding rates for the various AA’ards being as folloAvs— SandAvell Soho Victoria Cape Uplands Beai'Avood Spoil Lane Warlejy 1941 1942 57.00 61.04 43.85 55.80 44.89 49.51 41.11 40.26 28.67 34.33 29.64 -31.88 24.90 27.19 9.14 11.54 Many complaints Avhich are made to the Inspectors on the district are not recorded in the office Complaint Book; one complaint also often involves visits to a number of houses. The premises visited on complaint are therefore in excess of the number of comjilaints received; the number of premises A’isitcd on complaint Avas 1,320 in 1941 and 1,445 in 1942. The average number for the ten pre-Avar years Avas 1,688. This Avork cannot be curtailed and must be carried out in spite of reduced staff;, the number of visits made on complaint and subsequent A'isits made to ensure com¬ pliance Avith notices served comprise 64% of the total visits made for all purpo.ses during 1941 and 1942, as against an average of 22% for the ten-year pre-Avar period.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30091299_0020.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
