[Report 1972] / Medical Officer of Health, West Bromwich County Borough.

  • West Bromwich (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1972
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1972] / Medical Officer of Health, West Bromwich County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    receiving less of a service than would be expected if adequate pro¬ fessional staff were available to be recruited. Recent national suggestions in regard to the desirable staffing ratios would suggest that these are about double those in West Bromwich with regard to district nursing and health visiting. The ambulance service is also pressed; there is an increase in patients carried and no corresponding increase in staff. Ambulance work is not attractive in terms of the hours worked to all but the enthusiastic and dedicated. Chiropody and dental services function satisfactory but again are limited by the number of professional staff that can be recruited. Cervical cytology is limited in scope by the limitation of laboratory facilities to examine specimens in the hospital which once again is a facet of a shortage of suitable trained staff (in this case in the hospital service). In the case of Family Planning this is an agency service and there is increasing usage as the years progress. Infectious Disease The report indicates no particular unusual occurrence. It probably under-estimates the amount of work done because there has been a considerable increase in regard to travellers from abroad from infected areas who have to be visited and have various specimens submitted for laboratory examinations so the spread of infection may be minimised. Dr. Cole has contributed -and I must thank him—a full account of the situation in regard to tuberculosis and I am happy to note he has recorded a fall in the number of new cases notified. The figures on venereal disease are obviously not an indication of the actual incidence which I suspect is much higher. These diseases are not notifiable and the figures depend on figures produced by clinics outside West Bromwich in allocating their patients by the home address given. Environmental Health I am indebted to Mr. S. Cayton, M.B.E., for this section of the report, which is also his Annual Report to Council. He has commented