[Report 1957] / Medical Officer of Health, Lincoln City.

  • Lincoln (England). City Council.
Date:
1957
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1957] / Medical Officer of Health, Lincoln City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    50/90 (page 46)
    To: The Right Worshipful the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the City and County Borough of Lincoln. City Health Department, Beaumont Fee, Lincoln. Mr. Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors, I have the honour to present my report on the work of the public health inspectors section of the Health Department during the year 1957. The Rent Act, 1957 came into operation during the year, repealing certain parts of the Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954 and this caused a considerable increase in the number of applications for certificates of dis¬ repair. 105 applications were considered by the Housing Committee as against 47 in the previous year. Under the 1957 Act the responsibility for detailing the disrepair in a house, when making application for a certificate, is placed upon the tenant and this has caused considerable confusion among some tenants and created additional work for the inspectorate. The number of complaints of housing defects received was 511 as compared with 798 in 1956 and the decrease may be due in part to the operation of the Rent Act and our slum clearance programme. Further progress was made in slum clearance, 78 houses being included in clearance areas, 8 dealt with by way of demolition or closing order and 3 demolished in anticipation of formal action. 1682 private premises have now been provided with dustbins by the Council under Section 75(3) of the Public Health Act, 1936. The Council have operated this section of the Public Health Act since 1953 and an annual charge of 7/6 in respect of each dustbin provided is recovered as part of the general rate in respect of the premises for which the dustbin has been provided. The Food Hygiene Regulations were fully in operation throughout the year and although it has not yet been possible to complete the register of all food premises in the city it has been ascertained that there are 875 and in my report these have been classified by type of business. There was again a decrease in the incidence of tuberculosis in cows slaughtered, 26.84% as compared with 30.79% in the previous year. 39 bovine animals were sent to the abattoir for slaughter by veterinary officers of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Animal Health Division, under the Tuberculosis Order, 1938 and the Tuberculosis (Slaughter of Reactors) Order, 1950. There was a slight decrease in the incidence of Cysticercus bovis in bovines slaughtered but the figure continues to remain high. I am again indebted to all members of the public health inspectors section for the keen and active interest they have taken in the work of the department and in particular to Inspector Shepherd who has given many illustrated talks to various groups of persons engaged in the food industry and other interested organisations, on food hygiene and environmental control generally. The varied duties for which I am responsible call on occasion for the advice and co-operation of the Chief Officers of other departments and their staffs and I am grateful to them and to the Medical Officer of Health for the help which is always so readily given. I am. Your obedient Servant, DUNCAN G. McGILL,