Slough Industrial Health Service

Abstract

T HE Slough Industrial Health Service is an experiment developed by the Nuffield Foundation, a voluntary body with aims somewhat similar to the Rockefeller Foundation, and by a Trading Estate at the town of Slough some twenty miles west of London. The trading estate was itself a pioneer venture after the first world war. It was started on the site of an abandoned army dump so as to give small industrial plants a chance of setting up with facilities which only big firms with plenty of capital usually enjoy. Multipurpose factory bays were laid out like houses along a street and supplied with good road and rail access. In an area of about two square miles there are over 250 firms employing more than 25,000 workers. The plan was to develop a medical for small plants, associated with a rehabilitation and recuperative center to insure rapid return to industry, not only of those suffering from the effects of industrial accidents, but also of manual or non-manual workers recovering from sickness or operation. The organization of such a center, as well as the development of a medical for a large group of small firms, presented problems of relationship and organization for which there was no guide. The scope and nature of the services to be included under the term comprehensive medical service were to be decided by experience and experiment. Naturally the scope of the depended upon the nature of the medical services already provided in the area. The scheme made a flying start in May, 1947, under the direction of Dr. A. Austin Eagger, and at the end of the first year was responsible for nearly 10,000 workers in 100 firms, and now looks after 14,000 workers in 130 firms. A health comprises many intangible as well as tangible factors, but it was realized that the first thing a firm appreciates is an efficient casualty and accident service, and on this foundation must be developed a good personal medical for workers requiring examination or advice. The ultimate value of the must depend upon possessing the confidence and good will of management and workers alike. These initial years have therefore been spent largely in establishing the foundations.