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88
charge, and easily available - any doctor, health visitor, social
worker or probation officer can recommend that it be given and
every case receives prompt attention.
The popularity of the family planning clinics reflects the high
quality of service rendered by the members of this service. In
this regard our special thanks are due to Dr.Edge, the Chairman,
Mrs.Crampton-Smith, the Organising Secretary, Dr.Duncan-Whyte
and her medical colleagues, and all the nurses and clerical staff
of the Family Planning Association.
Looking to the future, in February the Health Committee considered
the desirability of abolishing all charges which the
Council made for family planning services but, in the absence of
any concrete evidence of a financial deterrent in the existing
arrangements, decided to launch a major publicity campaign with
the object of comparing subsequent attendances at the clinics in
Wandsworth with those in an adjoining borough where a completely
free service was scheduled to be introduced the following April.
An intensive publicity drive was accordingly launched in the
spring. In November the Health Committee reconsidered the
question of charges in the light of the 67% increase in the
attendance of new patients experienced during the first three
months, in the context of a completely free service, in the London
Borough of Lambeth compared with an increase of 27% in Wandsworth
during the same period, and the Council subsequently
accepted a recommendation to abolish all charges in relation to
the attendance of residents of the Borough at Family Planning
Association Clinics within or without Wandsworth, and at Brook
Advisory Centres, with effect from the beginning of 1973. In
addition this free service would be available to non-residents
working in the Borough who attend local clinics.
Finally, the possibility of establishing "walk-in" centres
where young people would receive in informal surroundings
advice regarding not only birth control but also allied emotional
problems was being actively explored at the end of the year.
The statistical analysis which follows (Tables 28 and 29)
gives details of the patients who were helped during the course
of the year.