New public health: An introduction to personal health and the welfare services

BOOK REVIEWS New Public ltealth: An hztroduction to Personal Health and the Welfare Services. By FRnD GRUNDY. London, 1968: H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd. pp. 224: 30s. Tins new version of an old friend has neither the glossy paper nor the photographs of the last edition but is certainly none the worse for either of these losses. It deals mainly with the personal health services and those welfare services that make a major impact on health. The book outlines the functions of the National Health Service as a whole but concentrates particularly on those available under Part II1. In addition there are sections on communicable-diseases, the school health service and the children's department. The first chapter i~ on general principles and in it the author gives helpful explanations of some terms which can lead to confusion either because they may be used loosely or because the same term can have a different interpretation depending on its context. This is followed by a chapter on Central and Local Government which explains the relative roles of these and the different levels of local government. This brief description of present-day local government and the responsibilities for health, welfare and other relevant services is clear and lucid and wilt be of great help to those who are trying to understand the intricacies of these matters for the first time. The chapter on the health visitor, social work and family-care reporting is perhaps a little too brief even though it is not in any way intended to be a complete description of the work; nevertheless it provides an interesting-curtain raiser on which further reading can be based. The final chapter is on Health Statistics and this is followed by a series of appendices some of which are synopses of relevant legislation, while others are more in the nature of brief essays on topical matters of interest to those working in the field of public health. This book, like its predecessors, can be recommended confidently as introductory reading for health visitors, social workers and midwives who are the audience for whom the author indicates he is writing. It could also be read with advantage by medical students taking a first glimpse of the health and welfare services which operate outside the rarified atmosphere of the teaching hospital and by junior hospital staff from overseas who are trying to understand some of the mysteries of the Welfare State. World Health. By PROFESSOR FRASER BROC'K1NGTON. 2nd edn. London, 1967: J. and A. Churchill Ltd. pp. x + 373: 48s. THE first edition of this book was published by Penguin Books Ltd, in 1958. For this edition, Professor Brockington has added some new material and generally brought the book up to date, but has followed the order of contents of the previous edition. He first defines public health and then discusses the perpetual struggle of living matter. He describes the burden of disease throughout the world and how the many and varied physical, biological and social factors can promote or undermine health. The next sections of the book review public health practice and the origins and present organization and achievements of the World Health Organization. The final section of the text is a useful review of what must be the basis of any study or discussion of health. that is, the measurement of health. The book concludes with 8 appendices and 14 pages of references. As we could expect from Professor Brockington, this is a reliable and scholarly review of world health problems which should be of particular interest to those already in the field, who require a broadening of their horizons or academic refreshment.