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Under Section 28 of the National Health Service Act, 1946, the Council's male
and female welfare officers have continued to undertake the tracing of contacts of
patients, details of whom have been provided by hospitals, by medical services of
the British, Dominion and United States Armed Forces, and by local health
authorities. The welfare officers have also been available to assist clinics in case of
difficulty in following up patients who have defaulted.
On 30th September, 1949, a conference was held at the County Hall, to which
the Directors and Almoners of the London V.D. clinics were invited, to explore the
means by which the Council could help the clinics in case holding and contact
tracing and also ensure that its responsibilities as regards V.D. under the National
Health Service Act for the prevention of illness and the care and after-care of sick
persons were being fulfilled.
It was agreed that in general the primary means of getting contacts to seek
treatment would continue to be by encouraging the patient to persuade the contact
to attend a clinic but that if home visits were necessary they should be undertaken
by the local health authority's welfare officers. The following up of defaulting
patients, including home visiting, would, however, be undertaken by the hospital
staff unless special difficulties arose which made it desirable to enlist the assistance
of the Council's welfare officers.
Twenty-one notifications were received from the services of demobilised men
who were under treatment or surveillance for V.D. and these men were interviewed
with a view to persuading them to continue attendance at civilian clinics.
Health Education
The main health education effort continued to be that of the health visitors to
individual mothers and to small groups. These talks take place both in the centres
and in the homes. Where space and staff permit organised talks have been given
to larger groups in the centres.
The posters and leaflets issued by the Central Council for Health Education, the
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and other similar bodies have been
used throughout the year. The exhibition stand produced by the Central Council
has circulated in the county and three additional stands were purchased during the
year so that a quicker circulation could be arranged. Thanks are due to the
borough councils and to other authorities (including some of the large Stores) who
kindly found space for the stands. There was some criticism of the way in which
certain of the topics were presented but on the whole it was agreed that the effort
was a useful one.
The intensive campaign on diphtheria immunisation held in 1948 was repeated
in the last quarter of 1949. Newspaper advertisements giving times of sessions were