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West London Hospital - Martha and Luke Clinic Report.
During the year 1968 the number of new cases rose from 7,624 to 9,117.
Attendances - from 30,000 to 39,283.
While from one point of view these figures might be regarded as disturbing, at least it may mean that our considerable joint efforts, both of
the hospital and local authority, have been successful in encouraging patients to come forward for advice and treatment.
The number of new cases of syphilis rose from 162 to 212. The proportion of early or infectious syphilis rose from 101 to 132 cases. Of the
male infections, over 70% was homosexually transmitted and there is reason
to fear that there may be a large number of undetected young men with early
latent syphilis who are totally unaware of this. In some countries, for
example Switzerland, successful efforts were made to bring these people
along for treatment, but obviously such a programme of health education
would involve a great deal of thought and hard work and would have to be
very discreet.
The number of new cases of gonorrhoea rose from 2,035 to 2,388. The
situation here is not a happy one, the infection is tending not only to
get milder but much less easy to treat on account of antibiotic resistance.
Half the women infected are symptomless and there have been increasing
numbers of surgical complaints arising. The number of symptomless males is
showing signs of increasing and a number of new patients have been found
to harbour the infection in the prostate gland. Over 20% of male cases
are homosexually transmitted but it is much easier to get people to come
along for treatment of gonorrhoea which has a shorter incubation period
than it is for syphilis.
The number of other conditions increased from 5,387 to 6,496 of which
non-gonococcal urethritis was the most important single item, rising from
1,347 to 1,592 in the male. Many of these patients, of course, had nothing
actually wrong with them and came for advice which we were glad to give.
This number rose from 1,530 to 1,730. The fact that they required no actual
treatment does not mean that they were speedily dealt with as many of these
patients required a very considerable allocation of time.
The most disturbing development during the year was the increase in
the number of school children who attended of their own accord, there being
100 girls aged 16 or less and 22 boys, the youngest being 8.
The Borough already has a proud record in the matter of health education,
but it must not rest upon its laurels.
I am grateful for the facilities which have been given to me to address
the head and other member teachers of many schools in both this Borough and
in Kensington and Chelsea, to discuss this problem. It seemed to be generally agreed that some sort of instruction should be included and I am always
available for advice. I have the experience of addressing large gatherings
of girls aged 14 upwards and can claim that this was very successful, but
obviously the specialist concerned is not normally the person who should
undertake this. During 1969 our increase on 1968 has been 30% for the first
four months and a similar state of affairs is appearing in other parts of
London.
There is a body of thought that facilities should be curtailed and
patients turned away and that this essential work should be discontinued
because this incurs an overload on the hospitals. Such a policy, if
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