[Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Huntingdonshire / County of Huntingdon County Council.

  • Huntingdonshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, Huntingdonshire / County of Huntingdon County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    To The Chairman and Members of the Huntingdonshire County Council. My Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present to you the Annual Report on the health of the County of Huntingdonshire for the year 1943. As in the previous war years since 1940, the report is in the nature of a digest of health activities and, in its contents, is mainly statistical. Nevertheless, the year 1943 is remarkable for advances in public health administration which invite comment. The publication of the Beveridge Report on “ Social Insurance and Allied Services ” aroused an interest in public health and National Insurance, so great as to make its proposals the subject of conversation in the home as well as the subject of debate in Parliament. It soon became clear that the arguments advanced and the data amassed would be used as a isound foundation upon which to build legislative reform in public health. A Parliamentary White Paper was expected to follow and, in fact, appeared in February, 1944. There is no doubt that a Parliamentary Bill setting forth the Government’s proposals for a National Health Service will be submitted to Parliament in the near future. That a coalition Government during a European war should be obliged to introduce legislation for the reform of social services, such as education, and public health, is the measure of the social revolution which is taking place. No longer is prosperity regarded only in terms of volume of trade. The happiness and contentment of the individual are now considered, perhaps for the first time in our history, as fundamental in the planning of social reform. Happiness and contentment are bound up with health; indeed, it may be that they are dependent on health. Public health is a matter of concern to every individual in the State and it is proper that it should be organised by the State. While there are many proposals in the White Paper exciting controversy, its chief aims are incontrovertible. Local Authorities are now confronted with proposals Which wall radically alter public health administration. The prospect for Huntingdonshire is a