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110
Statistics for the year 1972 are as follows:-

Adoption and boarding-out
Throughout the year, the advice of the medical staff continued
to be available to social workers of the Social Services Department
about adoptive children and the parents who hoped to adopt
them. This frequently involved making medical enquiries concerning
the health of both children and parents. Occasionally,
potential educational difficulties were investigated and a
clinical assessment of the child was carried out. During the
year, numerous cases were considered and advice was given both
formally (when special investigations were carried out) and
informally during case conferences or at personal interviews
with the social workers.
Close liaison with the Social Services Department continued
to operate in connection with children who needed to be boarded
out.
Venereal diseases
At a time when the most serious infectious diseases have
either nearly disappeared or are well under control, the pattern
of the sexually transmitted diseases stands out in contrast. The
figures for Wandsworth, shown below and in graph form, are
typical for London which accounts for nearly half of the national
total of cases. The important features of the current trends are
their occurrence in the absence of the major upheavals of war
when similar rates were last recorded, and their persistence in
the face of antibiotic treatments on which so much hope was
placed in the early 1950's.