View report page

60
CERVICAL CYTOLOGY
Last year, mention was made of the need to boost attendances at the screening clinics in the
north-west of the City and, to this end, early in 1969 preparations began for the launching in the
Spring, in collaboration with the Women's National Cancer Control Campaign, of an intensive
publicity drive in the Paddington area.
In anticipation of the interest which it was hoped to arouse locally by actively seeking the support
of local women's organisations, voluntary associations, business concerns and public bodies—
circulating for this purpose a specially designed poster and matching postcard giving full details of
the screening clinics—and by arranging a house-to-house delivery of the special postcard, in close
liaison with the local health visitors, a fifth cervical cytological screening clinic was opened at the
Queen's Park Maternal and Child Welfare Centre, 66 Lancefield Street, W.10, on 28th March 1969.
This clinic was designed to cater for up to 20 women at each of the two sessions to be held every
month, and both general practitioners in the Westminster area and the local press were informed
well in advance of the opening.
The publicity campaign was inaugurated by a Press Conference, held at City Hall on 21st April,
at which the Lord Mayor, Councillor C. A. Prendergast, presided. The opening speakers at this
Conference were the Lord Mayor, who had taken a personal interest in this Service since its commencement
in 1966 when he was Chairman of the Health Committee, Lady Donaldson, the Chairman
of the Women's National Cancer Control Campaign, and Dr. I. M. Pinkerton, the Chief Medical
Officer of Marks and Spencer Ltd., and they were joined by Dr. J. G. Bate, the Consultant Cytologist
of the Samaritan Hospital, Dr. D. R. Cook, the Secretary of the Inner London Local Medical Committee,
and the Medical Officer of Health, to form a panel, which then answered questions posed by
representatives of the Press. Officers of the Women's National Cancer Control Campaign, representatives
of local industry and commerce, members of the Health Committee and of the medical and
nursing staff of the City Council's Health Department were also present at this well-attended
inaugural event.
Points highlighted during the Conference included the role of the voluntary organisation in
stimulating the provision of adequate screening facilities and the full use of them by the general
public; the value of screening in terms of the effect on the mortality rate from cancer of the cervix;
the priority groups for screening ; the frequency of screening considered desirable and the significance
of the incidental gynaecological findings which are a by-product of the screening process; the part
which the family doctor has to play; the importance of encouraging him in this role, and the need
to keep him fully informed when his patients are screened by the hospital or local health authority
services; the contribution of industry to population screening by providing a service directly or
otherwise making suitable arrangements for their employees to be screened on the premises or at a
local clinic; the importance of the local health authority screening clinics in catering for women who
would not otherwise be screened, and the vital part which the health visitor has to play in persuading
those most at risk to take advantage of the available screening facilities.
The immediate response to the resultant publicity in the national and local press was good
attendances being appreciably higher than in the first quarter of the year, although the degree of
public interest shown in the new mobile trailer, made available by the Women's National Cancer
Control Campaign for the purpose of distributing literature and interesting the public in the work of
the Campaign generally and in the local screening facilities in particular, was disappointing. This
trailer was stationed at various strategic points in the Paddington area during the period from 9th-27th
June but it did not attract the attention hoped for. Far more disheartening was the paucity of volunteers
to undertake the house-to-house delivery of the specially designed postcard and, in the event,
this key task was undertaken by a few sturdy volunteers, supported by local health visitors. In the
circumstances, it is perhaps not surprising that the response to this publicity campaign was shortlived,
the very satisfactory attendance figures during the second quarter of 1969 sagging appreciably
in the Autumn. Consequently, by the end of the year, early closure of the Queen's Park clinic seemed
inevitable owing to lack of support, and the more effective utilisation of the screening resources
available in the Paddington area was under close scrutiny.
However, notwithstanding the disappointing results of the publicity campaign, 1969 was by no
means a year lacking in achievement in this important field of cervical cytological screening. In the
first place, the St. Marylebone and Ebury Bridge clinics continued to flourish unabatedly and the
attendances there were most gratifying. Secondly, a large department store arranged for more than
100 members of their female staff to be examined at the St. Marylebone cervical screening clinic and
this small project was successfully completed by the end of the year, much to the appreciation of the
firm concerned. Thirdly, the City Council's Health Department joined forces with the Women's