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8
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in presenting to you my report on the health of the Borough
during 1972.
While the number of services provided by the Health Services Directorate
continued to expand during the year, long term planning considerations have
been dominated by the proposed re_organisation of the National Health Service
on April 1st, 1974. The integration of the three separate branches (the personal
health services and school health service, hospital services and general practitioner
services) into a unified whole has been recognised for many years, and a major
reform of this nature involves considerable time and effort by individual members
of the Directorate. It is hoped that after April, 1974, the present boundary of
the Borough will be maintained as an administrative unit, and representations
have been made to the Secretary of State to try to ensure that services in the
Borough are not divided.
During the year free family planning facilities were made available to all
those who live and work in the Borough, and Clinics formerly run by the Family
Planning Association have been taken over by the Council. This move was
accompanied by a widescale publicity campaign, and the results have been most
encouraging. The Council has taken a lease on premises at 47 Tulse Hill from the
Queen's Institute of District Nursing, the premises has been renamed Brockwell
Clinic and a Family Planning Clinic is now in operation. It is also proposed to
extend the family planning service further by introducing a free vasectomy service
in 1973.
A happy event this year was the opening of Belthorn Maternity and Child
Health Centre, which is the second purpose built centre to be opened by the
London Borough of Lambeth since April, 1965, and sessions started on August
21st. This new centre replaced Clapham Park School Treatment Centre and
Poynders Gardens Maternity and Child Health Centre which provided insufficient
accommodation for satisfactory provision and development of services in the
area. Application has been made for a new Maternity, Child Health and School
Treatment Centre at Lambeth Walk to the Department of Health and Social
Security under section 22 of the National Health Act, 1944. The updated
Capital Rolling Programme includes plans for five Health Centres and it is hoped
that work on the first, at Clapham Manor, will commence in the latter half of
1973.
In an attempt to widen the net of Health Services serving the elderly in
Lambeth, and as a logical extension of general screening procedures for "at risk"
groups of the community, two pilot geriatric clinics were started during the year.
The operation of these clinics will be scrutinised after a year in order to
evaluate their success in reaching the elderly population.