A Chronology of State Medicine, Public Health, Welfare and Related ...

Parker reviewing
1999 Cont 4
1999 cont recent studies, "Adoption Now - Messages from Research".
The Social Exclusion Unit published "Teenage Pregnancies" pointing to the need for
more support and advice about contraception and relationships, and more effective
contraceptive services for young people.
The Confidential Inquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy (1992) reported that half
of babies who died at birth and a fifth of those stillborn had received inadequate care which
had contributed to their deaths. The study showed a clear need for better training, in
particular for junior doctors and hospital midwives.
The Audit Commission reported that, even allowing for the complexities of case mix,
mortality is unexpectedly high in some intensive care units with as many as three deaths
every five admissions. Differences in organising consultant cover and in clinical cover were
thought to be likely factors in these variations.
The NHS and the Prison Service announced in "The Future Organisation of Prison
Health Care" joint plans to improve health care in British prisons through a formal
partnership and the creation of a prison health policy unit and a task force.
"A New Contract for Welfare: Children's Rights and Parents' Responsibilities",
Cm.4349, published.
The Government announced changes in the procedures of the Child Support Agency
for obtaining financial support for their children from absent fathers.
A White Paper "A New Contract for Welfare: Safeguarding Social Security"
announced further measures to reduce fraudulent claims to social security benefits.
The Secretary of State for Health outlined plans to set up a new body concerned with
the quality of work of social workers to complement the work of the Social Services
Inspectorate.
The Government announced its intention to reorganise the Office of National
Statistics.
The Government announced the banning of tobacco advertising on billboards and in
newspapers and magazines.
The Government decided not to ban the sale of unpasteurised milk which could still be
bought direct from farms in England (see 1985). Although the Government considered the
practice unsafe, it preferred to inform consumers of the risks of drinking such milk and leave
the choice to them. In future such milk would carry an extended health warning, and stricter
hygiene controls would be introduced for the production of such milk, including more
frequent microbiological tests.
The Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food warned that the
excessive and unnecessary use of antibiotics in farm animals led to the emergence of
antibiotic resistant bacteria which were capable of causing disease in human beings.
The Department of Health announced a programme to immunise babies, infants and
teenagers against meningitis C with a new vaccine which provided long-term protection.
The World Health Organization announced that there had been no cases of
poliomyelitis in Europe during the last year.
A BMA report, "Growing up in Britain" (chairman, WJ Appleyard) drew attention to
the widening gaps in infant mortality and child morbidity between the children of better off
and poorer families.
UK Public Health Association formed by the merging of the Association for Public
Health and the Public Health Alliance to be "a unifying and powerful voice for the public's