Public health arrangements were changed considerable by the 1972 Local Government Act. The office of MOH was discontinued. Some of the functions for which he and his local authority had been responsible were transferred to the new health authorities.
Environmental health functions remained with local authorities, some as the responsibility of the authorities themselves- and for these purposes they were statutorily required such staff as they thought necessary- and some as the responsibility of officers of the authorities, designated as 'proper officers' for this purpose. There was no longer any statutory duty placed on the local authority to appoint medically qualified staff with special training and experience in environmental health to undertake these functions.
This guide has been planned to help those MOsEH who are 'proper officers' as medical advisors on environmental health matters and general medical officers to the local authority.