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The nursing facilities in the Health Centre treatment room and for domiciliary visiting have widened
the scope and helped the work of general practitioners very considerably.
The Health Education room is now being used for extra waiting space and for the sale of birth
control requisites; but because the folding partition affords little protection against noise from the reception
centre, relaxation and mothercraft classes have to be held elsewhere.
The rest room and staff accommodation is also proving barely adequate for committee and other
education functions that have developed. Serious thought will have to be given to further accommodation for
these and other activities.
The working arrangements of the secretariat employing 4 full-time and 11 part-time staff have been
very satisfactory and a relatively pioneering effort—a combination of local authority and general practice
which should be regarded as a successful achievement in co-operation on the part of our administrator and
the Borough and Executive Council officers.
Many of our architectural problems have been dealt with but the difficulties of satisfactory ventilation,
particularly in the summer months, and the prevention of over-flowing Garcheys in the flats above, remain
to be solved.
Our exact situation within the format of the new Health Service regulations starting in 1974 is
uncertain. In the main we are optimistic for the future."
The Neasden Health Clinic in Balnacraig Avenue was opened on 12th June, 1961. There is sufficient
land around the building to enable an extension to be added, and in August it was decided to explore the
possibility of extending the building to form a Health Centre. All general practitioners within a mile radius
of the Clinic were circulated and invited to a meeting on 2nd September to discuss the proposal and as several
were obviously interested a further meeting was arranged at the Chalkhill Health Centre on 28th October.
Following this meeting a letter was sent to them by the Executive Council and seven signed a declaration of
intent. Subsequently as a result of roadworks at Neasden connected with the Neasden Underpass a small
plot of land adjoining the Clinic belonging to the Department of the Environment became available which
the Council decided to purchase; also as the Special Care Unit moved from a site next to the Clinic because
of the changed environmental conditions the Education Committee agreed to release the site to the Health
Committee. These two plots will assist in the planning of the Centre and enable adequate car parking facilities
to be provided.
On 15th December the Health Committee resolved that the officers be authorised to submit to the
Department of Health and Social Security application for approval in principle for a Health Centre at Neasden
in accordance with the provisions of Section 21 of the National Health Service Act and the Development
Committee was asked to arrange for preparation of a schedule of accommodation and the drawing of plans.
CARE OF MOTHERS AND YOUNG CHILDREN
Child Health and Ante-Natal Clinics
The Craven Park Health Centre opened in October and provides services similar to those at Chalkhill
Health Centre. General practitioner and local authority services are held there as at Chalkhill. A Management
Committee meets monthly to discuss the many different aspects of working together in a health centre.

On the recommendation of the Department of Health and Social Security routine smallpox vaccination
of young children was discouraged but the staff continued to advise parents to take advantage of all
other prophylaxis offered.
Cervical Cytology
The sessions for screening for cervical cancer operating at Kilburn Square and London Road Clinics
and at the Chalkhill Health Centre were well attended. Mothers attending the Borough's birth control clinics
were also offered this service. During the year a session was opened at the Chalkhill Health Centre, on
Wednesday evenings. The number of patients who availed themselves of this service was 1,603.