| AdminHistory | The Public Health and Housing Committee was formed in November 1911 following the merger of the Housing Committee and the Health Committee. The Health Committee had been formed as the Borough Inspection Committee, later the Sanitary Committee, in 1856, following the passing of the Public Health Act of 1848. In June 1917, the Public Health and Housing Committee was split up after a report by the Special Housing Inquiry Committee (see BCC/1/BF), who considered the health and housing functions as distinct entities, although the Public Health Committee retained some responsibilities relating to visiting houses to assess sanitation, as stressed in the Public Health Act, 1875 (see BCC/1/AR Public Health Committee). House building and planning duties were then attached to the Town Planning Committee, to form the Housing and Town Planning Committee, in accordance with the Housing of the Working Class Acts 1890 - 1909 and the Housing and Town Planning Act, 1909.
The first committee comprised of twelve members, including the Lord Mayor, and Neville Chamberlain, the future Prime Minister. In effect, the two previous committees had become sub-committees to the Public Health and Housing Committee and continued with the same functions as they had before, with the main committee co-ordinating them. Its main health functions included the administration of the Corporation hospitals at Little Bromwich, Lodge Road, Witton and West Heath, the Broad Street Tuberculosis Centre, the sanatoria at Yardley Road, Salterley Grange and Romsley Hill (with the Saturday Hospital Fund).
It was also responsible for the inspection of cowsheds, canal boats and other property for nuisance value, and to analysing foodstuffs and milk supply to ensure that it was of sufficient quality and free from harmful bacteria. The housing functions remained as inspecting properties for repair, closure or demolition, under the previous legislation and interviewing property owners, builders and solicitors.
The committee was supported by a Chief Inspector of Nuisances, with several Inspectors, who procured food samples and inspected other nuisances, a Chief Medical Officer, with assistants, a City Analyst, several Health Visitors, a Housing Inspector and the Chief Surveyor. The committee ran the newly merged Public Health and Housing Department, though the Department was clearly easy to separate for financial, rating and other internal purposes.
In 1917 the Public Health Committee returned to the format it had taken prior to its merger with the Housing Committee, its functions continuing much as before. In 1918 a Spanish Flu epidemic broke out in the city, and the committee closed schools and other public buildings, though there still remained a 'heavy mortality rate'. The following year, the committee took over the treatment of Poor Law tuberculosis patients from the Guardians and leased Penns Hall, Erdington as a maternity home. In 1920, under the Blind Persons Act, the department had to tackle an increase in blind and partially-sighted patients, and the committee acquired Canwell Hall as a convalescent home.
The combating of disease improved after 1924, when the Public Health Committee issued medical leaflets on diseases such as breast and other cancers to every house in the city. In September 1926, the Corporation took over all of the Romsley Hill Sanatorium from the Saturday Hospital Fund. The committee continued to enforce new legislation, such as the Smoke Abatement Act, 1926, which became law in April 1927.
In 1930, under the Local Government Act of 1929, despite the existing poor law system continuing until 1948, the Boards of Guardians, the Union and the Workhouse system were abolished, with the onus of poor relief falling onto the City Council, which set up the Public Assistance Committee (see BCC/1/CD) to co-ordinate its policy. The Act also brought poor law infirmaries and fever hospitals into line with other municipal services, opening them to all in need without the stigma of the poor law. Therefore, the Poor-law infirmaries, such as Selly Oak and Dudley Road, and Poor-Law convalescent homes at Wassell Grove and Oaklands (Droitwich) were now to be administered by the Public Health Committee, while the children’s homes were now to be administered by the Education Committee. In November 1933, the Public Health Committee was merged with the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee, forming the Public Health and Maternity and Child Welfare Committee.
In November 1933, the Public Health Committee was merged with the Maternity and Child Welfare Committee (see BCC/1/BV), probably over the similarity of functions they performed. Its Public Health functions remained intact, as did the functions of the former Maternity and Child Welfare Committee, being assisting expectant (maternity homes) and nursing mothers (convalescent homes) through Municipal Centres at Pype Hayes, Washwood Heath, Aston and in the City Centre; assisting voluntary homes in Selly Oak, Stirchley, Edgbaston, Greet, Deritend and at Staniforth Hall; Health Visitor work relating to infant welfare; administration of the Notification of Births Act, 1915; control the Infant Consultation Clinics; administration of the Midwives Act, 1902; the running of the Children’s and Babies’ Hospitals (Witton and now Canwell); staffing and the maintenance, renovation and extensions to any of its buildings.
From 1935, the committee now dealt with the fostering of children and administering the public health aspects of the new Housing Act, namely overcrowding in houses. The following year saw an emergency maternity service established, to tackle the mortality rates suffered due to birthing complications. The committee increased its number of Health and Welfare Centres, such as Weoley Castle, which opened in 1937.
The war years saw an increased burden on the department, as it now had to dealt with air-raid precautions, set up casualty centres, assist in the evacuation of children and lose some of its facilities, such as Bromford and Stirchley, which became first-aid posts. In 1944, the committee established its Mass Radiography Department in Corporation Street. After the war, the committee was re-organised due to the establishment of the National Health Service, becoming the Health Committee in April 1947 (see BCC/1/CS). |