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South-East London General Practitioners Centre—Progress at the centre has continued;
there has been a steady increase in new patients and the number of doctors using the centre
has risen from 106 to 129. There have been a number of visitors to the centre, parties as
well as individuals. In addition to post-graduate discussions and meetings, which have
continued, a party of 30 medical students from London hospitals were given short talks
by the general practitioners and consultants attached to the centre.
DIVISION 8, comprising the boroughs of Bermondsey, Lambeth and Southwark
Dr. W. H. S. Wallace reports:
Premises—The divisional health office moved into new premises in Castle House,
2 Walworth Road, S.E.I, early in the year. The new building is part of the Council's
Elephant and Castle scheme and also accommodates the Area Children's office, the District
Housing office, the Youth Employment bureau and part of the Comptroller's department.
This association with other departments, in particular the Children's department, has
provided an excellent opportunity of achieving most valuable co-operation between the
services. The public, also, have the convenience of having so much of the Council's public
services available together.
The John Dixon maternity and child welfare and school treatment centre was opened
by the Mayor of Bermondsey in June. The centre, named after the first medical officer of
health for Bermondsey, has been incorporated in the ground floor of a block of flats and
offers a full range of services, including chiropody sessions. This new centre has afforded
an excellent opportunity to offer facilities to general practitioner obstetricians practising
in the area to see their patients at the ante-natal clinic. The arrangements have been most
successful.
Health education—Mothers' clubs have been established at three of the main centres
in the division and have been most successful. Afternoon meetings are held at Tulse Hill
and evening meetings at Norwood and Loughborough centres. Lectures, demonstrations
and discussions on health and related topics have proved of great interest and value.
The shop window in Brixton has continued to prove a valuable asset for the display
of health education material. The health visitors have done valuable work in arranging
the window displays. Regular sessions for teaching road safety to young children are
being held in conjunction with the Southwark Borough Council Road Safety Committee
at the Health Services Department and Sutherland House. These have proved most valuable
and have been well attended by the parents with young children in the district.
Occasional creches—During the year the existing service of 17 sessions at four welfare
centres was increased by three sessions and an additional five sessions were started at two
other centres. In addition, three sessions were started in association with Guy's hospital,
the hospital authorities providing accommodation at the Charterhouse Girls' Club and
the Council supplying a nursery assistant to look after the children.
Prophylaxis—During the year there was considerable public alarm as a result of the
cases of smallpox that were reported in parts of the country. This resulted in a great
demand for vaccination against smallpox by people of all ages. The staff are to be congratulated
on the way in which they met the enormous amount of extra work that fell on many
of the clinics. The introduction of the oral poliomyelitis vaccine proved successful and a
large proportion of young children are now receiving the vaccine. The evening and
Saturday morning clinics which had been introduced in previous years to meet the great
demand for poliomyelitis vaccination continued but were all closed by the end of the
year.
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