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69
Towards the end of 1970 an upward trend in the number of
patients being referred by general practitioners to our local clinics
became apparent. This reflects very creditably on the quality of
service provided by the Family Planning Association doctor and
her team. In this connection our special thanks are due to Mrs.
Crampton-Smith, the Organising Secretary, Dr. Duncan-Whyte, Dr.
Edge and all the nurses and clerical staff of the Family Planning
Association.
Looking to the future in the event of the closure of Battersea
General Hospital we hope to transfer the two clinics serving the
Battersea population to St. Christopher's Child Health Centre and
to invite the Family Planning Association to open a central clinic
in the Municipal Buildings. Family planning and the quality of
domestic life are closely related. Close liaison with family doctors
and hospital obstetricians and gynaecologists is essential if timely
advice is to be given to all mothers who have recently been
delivered and to those whose pregnancies have had to be terminated.
The avoidance of unwanted pregnancies and the reduction
in the number of abortions is wholly in the interests of the public
health. Even more important in the years ahead must be the expansion
of our health education programme in secondary schools
so that every boy and girl is fully acquainted with the biological
facts of life set in the wider context of human relationships and thus
of personal and civic responsibility.