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The incidence of venereal disease, as indicated by the number of new cases attending
clinics in London, fell gradually until the mid-1950's; then there was a rise until 1961,
thereafter the figures appeared to have levelled off at about double the 1955 level. This
increase led to a request for the services of a welfare officer at St. Mary's hospital, Paddington,
which is one of the busiest clinics in London and later a welfare officer was
employed at St. Thomas's and the London hospitals.
In 1964, after discussions with the consultant venereologist concerned and with officers
of the Ministry of Health, it was decided to try out a scheme of concentrated contact
tracing at two clinics. In this scheme the welfare officer would see each patient, as far as
possible, on his first attendance. The old method of issuing ' contact slips ' will continue
in suitable cases with closer follow-up of results. The Council agreed to the employment of
two additional welfare officer's for a period of six months at the London and St. Thomas's
hospitals, so that the needs and effectiveness of such a scheme could be assessed. This
scheme started at the end of November 1964 and results are awaited with interest.
The tracing of contacts and the help that the local health authority can give is now
appreciated by the staffs of most clinics and at the end of the year requests from four
more hospitals for help from welfare officers were under consideration by the Council.
These requests were subsequently approved and the number of staff employed full-time
on this work was increased to nine.