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VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS
The Family Planning Association is grant-aided by the Council, the grant having been increased from
£2,000 in 1969/70 to £8,000 in 1970/71. In January 1971 the Council agreed to pay the Family Planning
Association in accordance with their National Family Planning Agency Scheme No. 5. Under this scheme
the charge made by the Association for medical cases is at the rate of £4,85p per head for those receiving
advice and supplies free and £2.10p per head for those paying for their own supplies.
From October 1970 the Council agreed to pay a per capita consultation fee of £3 in respect of Islington
residents attending Brook Advisory Centres for family planning. There were 200 such cases during the year.
DOMICILIARY
Towards the end of 1968 the Family Planning Association, in conjunction with the Council, initiated
a pilot scheme to provide a domiciliary birth control service for the benefit of Islington women where family
restriction is deemed advisable, but the mother is not willing or not able to attend a clinic. In April 1971,
it was decided to provide this service directly by the Council, and during 1971 46 patients were referred
compared with 11 during 1970. The follow-up visiting was done by a nurse. Every effort was made to
encourage patients to attend clinics but where this was not achieved the domiciliary service continued.
During the early summer two successful staff seminars on the domiciliary service were held the Medical
Officer responsible for domiciliary visiting addressing health visitors, midwives and social workers of the
Council's staff.
The following is contributed by the nurse who undertakes the domiciliary visiting:-
"My first visit to the patient after the doctor has called is to teach the method chosen. Gaining
access to the home often necessitates several visits, day or evening, Language difficulties do arise, but
there is usually someone in the house to interpret, quite often a teenager. The service is warmly received by
some but in other cases persuasion and education is required, and often because of religion and culture the
husband has to be present. The number of visits made depends on how well patients carry out the advice
given, this also applies when transferring cases to clinic. Frequently patients have to be taken by car to
clinic for Inter-uterine device fitting and on several occasions as many as 5 children had to come along as
well! My feeling after one year is that we are gradually reaching that part of the community who would not
otherwise avail themselves of this service."
FREE SERVICE
During the year there was a growing pressure in many quarters for the provision of a totally free service
in order to remove any financial deterrent tending to restrict use of the service. The Department of
Health, in Circular 36/71, encouraged the growth of local authority family planning services and stated:
" Family planning can often improve the quality of domestic life; it can prevent the unhappiness that
unwanted pregnancies can cause and reduce the need for abortion."
It was considered that the additional expense of a totally free service in Islington would be offset by
savings which are inherent in the provision of an adequate family planning service such as preventing medicosocial
problems arising from the birth of unwanted children and all the expenditure incurred for them in
the social services. In addition the growth in the number of abortions since the Abortion Act 1967 became
law seemed to imply the need for contraceptive facilities to be available.
Accordingly, in October, 1971, theCouncil approved in principle, that with effect from 1st April, 1972,
no charge be made for family planning advice or supplies to Islington residents attending Council, Family
Planning Association or Brook Centre Clinics. It was also decided to approach the Association of Municipal
Corporations with regard to the question of local health authorities' powers in relation to financial assistance
to those undergoing vasectomy operations.
In December 1971, a meeting was held with representatives of professional and voluntary agencies, to
discuss the implications of the Council's scheme to provide a free family planning service, and possible
future expansions. This was attended by medical colleagues from local hospitals, a representative of the
Inner London Local Medical Committee, representatives of the Family Planning Association and the Brook
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