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Private bath facilites consist of 24 baths each for men and women. Attendances during the year
totalled 79,626 as compared with 81,417 in the previous year. The decline in attendance is thought
to be largely due to the Council's rehousing schemes which have provided hitherto regular users with
their own facilities. The baths are available every day and charges are Monday to Wednesday:
adults 6d., children 3d. ; Thursday to Sunday : l0d. Old age pensioners, unemployed or blind
persons can obtain baths from Monday to Friday at a cost of 1d. Foam baths are being introduced
in both the men's and women's sections. They can be had in private and for this reason are often
preferred to Turkish Baths, which are communal.
Public laundry facilities consist of a machine laundry, comprising eight fully automatically
controlled washing machines, three water-extractors and 24 drying racks, and a hand laundry provided
with 16 composite units for washing, boiling and ironing, 3 water-extractors and 16 drying racks.
The installation of automatically controlled washing machines has encouraged greater use of the
machine laundry and it is in some measure due to this that attendances at the hand laundry have
declined. Further modifications to the controlling apparatus have achieved improvements in the
quality of laundrywork and a saving in time. It has been noted that the number of young married
women using these facilities has greatly increased.
Staff Medical Examinations.
The Medical Officer of Health is medical adviser to the Council for staff purposes. During 1960,
one hundred and twenty-seven examinations of the Council's employees and new entrants to the
superannuation scheme were carried out.
Health Education.
The importance of this subject is becoming increasingly recognised and in a public health department
its practice falls into two main categories, namely, dissemination of information by word of mouth,
and education by the use of posters, pamphlets, book marks and other media for conveying the written
word. The first is undoubtedly the more effective and consequently in their day-to-day contacts with
the public the inspectors and other members of the staff take every opportunity to impart information
on health matters. In addition, provision is made for lectures and talks to be given to selected groups,
such as food handlers on the subject of food hygiene, and the department also uses a film strip projector
in this connection.
The Council has for many years made a financial contribution to the Central Council for Health
Education. Posters, pamphlets, book marks and other printed matter on health subjects, and more
particularly on those matters which directly concern the functions of the department, are regularly
purchased from this source and from ROSPA House and other bodies, and displayed or distributed
as widely as possible where it is considered they will bring the most satisfactory results. In this work
the Libraries Committee and the Public Library staff have been most helpful and co-operative. A
pamphlet board is sited in the entrance to the Central Library permanently, except for short periods
when this vestibule is required for a special exhibition, and a window at the St. John's Wood Branch
Library is at the disposal of the Public Health Department for publicity purposes. Book marks and
pamphlets are also regularly distributed from the Library counters. Very limited space is available
for posters but displays are maintained at all times at the Public Health Offices, from which pamphlets
are also distributed, and publicity is given to certain subjects at the public conveniences.
The department again co-operated with the London County Council in the annual Home Safety
Campaign Week and with the Ministry of Health for Mental Health Week. A special display was
also arranged drawing attention to the connection between smoking and lung cancer, and continued
assistance was given to the campaign for drawing public attention to the dangers of venereal diseases
and to the adequate facilities which exist for those in need of treatment. As each of the Council's
Smoke Control Orders comes into operation the opportunity is taken for intensive publicity in the
area concerned. Apart from the statutory action necessary, attempt is made through the local press,
local display and by individual contact with each household in the area to ensure that requirements
of the Clean Air Act are both understood and appreciated.
A Joint Committee of the English and Scottish Health Services Councils has been appointed under
the Chairmanship of Lord Cohen of Birkenhead to consider fresh fields for health education and to
assess past results and suggest what methods are likely to be most effective in future. The report
of the Committee on this important subject will be received with great interest.
New Legislation.
A list of the new Acts, Regulations, Orders and Byelaws, relating to the work of the Department,
is given in Table 5, page 32.