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

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

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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

    8/122 (page 6)
    Whitworth will form Rawtenstall District No. 14. These three large areas will come under the control of a District Management Team of Officers employed by the Area Health Authority. Environmental health services will remain the responsibility of Local Government as will the social services. The National Health Service through its Area Health Authority will administer the hospital and specialist services which are now the responsibility of the Regional Hospital Boards and Hospital Management Committees; also the family general practitioner service administered by Bbcecutive Councils; the Personal Health Services administered by Local Authorities through their Health Committee and the School Health Service. For many years co-operation between the branches of the present Health Service has not been lacking in Burnley as there has been ample representation of the Local Health Authority on the Executive Council which controls the general practitioner, dental, pharmaceutical and ophthalmic services. The Burnley and District Hospital Management Committee ensures efficient hospital facilities and is always planning to further improve the services, and the Committee has members chosen for their interest in the National Health Service. The Medical Officer of Health of the town has been a member of the Executive Council, the Hospital Management Committee and the Liaison Committee of the Manchester Regional Hospital Board, an arrangement which has more or less existed since the present health service commenced. In County Boroughs the Medical Officer of Health had sole responsibility for all health functions until the Seebohm Report in I968 proposed reforms of social services, thereby removing some responsibilities such as that for the Mental Health Service from the Health Department. Developments of a social nature which are now carried out by the new Social Services Departments, and which came into being in 1971> such as meals-on-wheels, domestic help, mental welfare as well as supervision of playgroups and registered daily minders, had been developed and administered efficiently by the Health Authority up to then. We can only hope that with integration the social services, which will remain under the administrative control of Local Authorities and so under different management from the main Health Service, will not give rise to many problems. In order to benefit the patient, it will always be necessary to have co-operation between Social and Health Services and the opportunity for a greater endeavour is not forgotten. Now that the Health Visitors, Home Nurses and Domiciliary Midwives are practice-based with general practitioners both in their surgeries and at the Health Centre, this can pave the way towards attachment of social workers into new fields of work. In connection with National Health Service re-organisation, a White Paper was issued during the year following several Green Papers on the Government's proposals. This was followed by the Grey Book on management arrangements for the new service. A report on organisation of medical work in hospitals was issued under the title of Cogwheel 2. The Joint Working Party responsible for this report had issued their first one some five years ago. Following the Mayston