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FAMILY PLANNING
Hitherto under the Council's existing family planning service the Family Planning
Association was reimbursed the cost of giving advice, examination and supplies of substances
or appliances to those persons whose applications were approved by the Medical Officer of Health.
The Council, following consideration of the National Health Service (Family Planning) Act 1967,
and of the Ministry of Health Circular 15/67 dated 31st July 1967, agreed to extend the service
by also reimbursing the Family Planning Association with the cost of giving advice to or
examining any person, male or female, married or unmarried, seeking assistance on social
grounds, and also reimbursing the cost of providing prescriptions, drugs and appliances, to
such persons subject to payments for these articles being made by the person based on a scale
of assessment of ability to pay according to income, size of family etc.
The Council also agreed to provide adomici1iary service if and when required, particularly
for families with multiple, social, or other handicaps. The extended service comes into
operation next year.
This year new patients numbered 624, an increase of 37% over 1966. (Statistics on page 105).
FEEDING DIFFICULTIES
Facilities are provided at a centre outside the borough for in-patient treatment of
mothers and babies when breast feeding difficulties are experienced or of babies with dietary
problems. No children were accommodated at the centre during the year.
HEALTH EDUCATION
The appointment of an assistant health education officer at the end of this year resulted
in greatly increased numbers of topics on health education being dealt with and to more varied
classes of audience. Better co-ordination with the various sections of the department has
led to a more efficient and streamlined machine. By changes in teaching techniques, lectures
have given way to discussion groups, stocks of visual aids have been augmented and made more
freely available, courses of health education in schools have increased and more staff have
attended part-time courses in teaching as well as psycho-prophylactic and projectionist courses.
Considerable attention has been given to immigrant groups, smoking and lung cancer, sex
education and venereal disease, prevention of accidents in the home, mass radiography, and
cervical cytology.
(Statistics on page 104).
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