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The National Survey of Health and Development.
This has been a continuous study of 5,000 young people, born in March, 1946, to obtain
information on their health, employment, and further education. The organisers of this survey
hope to keep in touch with these young people, at least until they are 21 and possibly until
they are 25 years of age. About 20 young people in the Borough are members of the survey, and
they were interviewed by health visitors to obtain the information required at this stage of the
survey.
Downview and Banstead Hospitals - Mother and Baby Unit Follow-Up.
In 1963, the consultant psychiatrist at these hospitals asked for the help of local health
authorities in conducting a survey, over at least 10 years, of the long-term results of the work of
the hospital's Mother and Baby Unit, which provided treatment for mothers who had had
schizophrenic illnesses after childbirth.
The Borough continued the co-operation given by the former London County Council, and
health visitors completed questionnaires for seven mothers and for each member of their families.
In addition, health visitors were asked to select a control family for each case, living in
similar accommodation in the same area with the same number of children and of the same social
status as the patient's family; and questionnaires were completed for the members of each control
family.
Survey of Childhood Cancers.
The Borough continued to co-operate with the Department of Social Medicine of Oxford
University in its investigation into fatal diseases of childhood in an attempt to discover their
causes. Health Visitors called on mothers whose children had died, and on mothers of healthy
"control" children of the same age and sex, to obtain their consent to interviews by a rnedical
officer.
Measles Vaccination.
Children vaccinated against measles in the Autumn, 1964, and children in the Control
Group, were followed-up in May and August, 1965, at the request of the Medical Research Council
to obtain periodic information of the state of their health. About 1,100 children were followed-up
for this purpose by health visitors, either by interviews with the mothers at the Child Welfare
Centres, or by home visits if necessary.
Medical Arrangements for Long-Stay Immigrants.
Advice of arrival of long-stay immigrants is received from ports and airports. Health
visitors then visit, give general information about the Health Services, and persuade them to
register themselves and their dependants with general medical practitioners; and have a chest
x-ray where this is appropriate. The following figures relate to the year 1965:-
Country where passport
was issued:
Immigrants
Notified:
Successful
VISITS
Unsuccessful
Total
Commonwealth Countries 715 429 471 900
Non-Commonwealth Countries 82 62 26 88
Totals 797 491 497 988
In the Maternity and Child Welfare Centres health education activities have been developed
by the health visitors, mainly through group discussion. The evening sessions, which fathers
attend, continue to be popular, but the direct approach by doctors, health visitors, midwives, and
home nurses remains the most important single method of changing health attitudes. In schools, at
the request of head teachers, health visitors have continued to give talks and to conduct discussion
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