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parted on splendid terms. I was able to take the "wife" to the local clinic where
she received the necessary treatment in good time: the male patient was treated in
the Remand Centre and the "girl-friend" was treated in Holloway."
The Social Worker at the Royal Northern Hospital reports that she finds that patients
generally are becoming more co-operative in attending for treatment and giving information
about their contacts. Much of her time is spent in tracing contacts and sometimes escorting
them to the clinic. This is particularly necessary when parents with young children are
involved. On one occasion a father and his six children had to be taken to the clinic for
examination.
Family Planning
The Council's family planning service continued to provide contraceptive advice and
supplies to Islington women referred on medical/health grounds, i.e. those women likely to
suffer detriment to health as a result of pregnancy. This service was provided at sessions
administered directly by the Council and at those held by the Central London Branch of the
Family Planning Association, grant-aided by the Council for this purpose.
At the commencement of the year, two Council family planning sessions were already in
being, one at Drayton Park Welfare Centre and one at Pine Street Welfare Centre. A third
clinic was opened in June, 1967, at Blythe Mansions, N.19., to serve the northern part of the
borough. All three clinics held weekly sessions, and referrals were made by clinic medical
officers, general practitioners and hospital doctors. Attendances were by appointment. No
charge was made in these medical cases at both Council and at Family Planning Association
Clinics for examination, advice and supplies.
Attendances at the Council's family planning clinics during 1967 totalled 401 (compared
with 293 during 1966)
The National Health Service (Family Planning) Act, 1967, came into force on the 28th
June, 1967, extending the then existing powers of local health authorities enabling them to
provide, or arrange for other bodies to provide, family planning advice on social grounds and
not, as hitherto, only in medical cases. The implications of this new Act, and proposals to
expand the Council's family planning service in the light of Ministry of Health Circular
No.15/67 were under active consideration in co-operation with the Central London Branch of the
Family Planning Association, with a view to their implementation during 1968.
Recuperative Holidays
The total number of recuperative holidays arranged during the year was almost the same
as were arranged in 1966. These holidays were provided in suitable cases for persons
recommended on medical grounds as being in need of rest, fresh air and good food to aid
recovery from recent illness. Those requiring supervision, medical and nursing care, were not
eligible but were referred for treatment to the appropriate Hospital Board.