View report page

Organisation—Overall policy is decided by the Health Committee.
There is a central Health Education Advisory Panel representing the main professional
points of view both central and divisional, which also has the assistance of a senior teacher
of a large secondary school. This panel deals with broad planning matters, particularly in
relation to exhibitions, campaigns, media and the timing thereof. Matters for detailed
consideration are referred to a working team of health visitors, under the chairmanship
of a divisional nursing officer who is a member of the central panel. This team undertakes
the appraisal of films and filmstrips, preparation and revision of lists of approved mothercraft
equipment and practical steps for the preparation of visual aids. Each of the nine
divisional medical officers is responsible for the day-to-day direction of health education
activities and he is assisted by a representative panel of his staff.
At the central office there is a small executive section which undertakes the co-ordination
of departmental health education activities, liaison with interested bodies, press publicity,
campaigns and exhibitions, the supply of equipment, films, filmstrips, literature and other
aids, and the maintenance of a photographic and a general library on health subjects.
Health education activities—These may be regarded as falling under three heads:
(i) Day-to-day health education by medical officers, health visitors, etc. in the home
or at clinics, on mothercraft, the need for prophylaxis, etc.
(ii) Health education in schools in cleanliness, hygiene, biology, mothercraft, etc. This
is the responsibility of head teachers but the school doctors and health visitors/school
nurses afford any help requested.
(iii) Individual campaigns or exhibitions which are in general centrally organised.
These three aspects of the work are explained in detail below.
The work of the field staff— Health education may be deemed to form part of almost
any contact between field staff and the public, e.g. there are, each year, some 900,000
attendances at maternity and child welfare clinics, 1,750,000 visits by home nurses, 750,000
home visits by health visitors, 300,000 school medical examinations and possibly another
750,000-1,000,000 visits to the homes of schoolchildren by the 70 trained social workers
and over 2,500 voluntary workers of the children's care committees (a service unique to
London) to follow up findings at medical inspections, non-attendance for diphtheria
immunisation, cases of problem children and mental health and moral welfare cases.
Apart from this day-to-day contact with the public, a regular series of talks and discussions
held mainly at welfare centres is the basis of field work. The variety and volume of the
talks, arranged under the direction of divisional medical officers, is shown in the following
tables.