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with the domiciliary treatment facilities provided by the Local Executive
Council. What may be termed the preventive services proper account
for as little as 31 per cent. of local health authority expenditure.
To prevent illness it is necessary to know much about its causation,
but this is only a first step. The discoveries of doctors and scientists
working in laboratories, hospitals, and in the community at large
must be translated into action by the individual. Before people will
act they must be convinced of the necessity for action. This conviction
can only arise from the efforts of our staff in the field of health education,
and I hope to devote more attention to this topic next year. In the
meantime it will suffice to say that I believe much of the so called health
education consisting of distribution of pamphlets, the displaying of
posters, and the giving of formal lectures, to be wholly inadequate for
the tremendous tasks before us.
Care and After-Care. Convalescent holidays, provided by the
Borough Council for mothers and young children, were made available
to all in need of them following the introduction of the National Health
Service Act. During 1953, 39 cases were sent away for periods averaging
two weeks.
The loan of sick-room equipment, previously undertaken by the
nursing associations receiving financial support from the Council and
by voluntary bodies, is now dealt with directly from the Health Area
Office. The following articles are available on loan :—
Air-rings
Back-rests
Bed-blocks
Bed-pans
Bed-cradles
Commode-chairs
Cushions—latex foam
Rubber-sheeting
Tables (bedside)
Urinals
Wheel-chairs
Walking sticks
Demands for wheel chairs are heavy in the summer months and there
was always a waiting list despite the addition of ten chairs to our stock.
Mention has already been made of the chiropody service started
by you in 1938. The foot clinics have been maintained since the
CHIROPODY SERVICE
Attendances :
School Children 1,007
Adults 22,797
"appointed day," but it has not been possible to extend the scheme
to provide treatment in the homes of those confined to bed, owing to
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