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Smoking and health—Considerable interest was taken during the year in the subject of
smoking and health. The Council was closely associated with the planning and other
arrangements for a closed-circuit colour television programme of live scientific demonstrations
and discussions relayed from the County Hall to a centre in London. The programme,
sponsored by the Central Council for Health Education, was watched by 2,400
senior London pupils and their teachers.
As an experiment, advisory sessions have been organised at the East Islington welfare
centre, Drayton Park, N.5 to assist smokers who wish to give up the habit.
A working party was set up by the Education Officer, with representatives of the
Education, Public Health and Children's departments and teachers, to review the situation
in schools and to consider what further steps should be taken to warn children of the
dangers of smoking, to discourage them from smoking and to prevent the formation of
the smoking habit.
It was thought necessary to have some reinforcement of the staff connected with
health education. The contribution which the two mobile units set up by the Central Council
for Health Education could make in London is small and for this reason the Council
decided to set up its own mobile unit on an experimental basis. The capital cost of the
unit is about £800 and the annual running costs are estimated at £2,500. The programme
of visits by the unit to schools, welfare centres etc. will be linked with local publicity
drives and the co-operation of local organisations, both statutory and voluntary, will be
sought. It is proposed to provide a second unit if experience justifies it.
Campaigns and exhibitions—A stand on safety in the home, fire prevention and means
of escape from fire was again mounted at the Ideal Home Exhibition, Olympia. Demonstrations
on the stand of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation proved a popular attraction. An
exhibition on ante-natal care was staged at County Hall. At the end of the year, proposals
were made for more extensive routine publicity over the home counties area on the need
for routine immunisation. Other subjects proposed for attention were dental health and
venereal disease.
Health education talks—The following tables show the variety and volume of talks and
discussions arranged by the field staff. Films and filmstrips continued to be widely used in
these activities. The department's own library met 979 requests for filmstrips and provided
150 of the total of 655 films shown. Talks given by health visitors in schools at the invitation
of head teachers ranged over a variety of subjects and numbered over 4,000.