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was convened by the Local Medical Committee. For all practical
purposes, therefore, it seems to me that the Local Executive Council
could have carried through their original proposal to appoint two
doctors to the estate without there being any different end result
except that their entry to Barking could have been "controlled" rather
than "uncontrolled".
Co-operation between general practitioners and the health visitors
and other members of the local authority team serving the estate
would thus have been rendered much easier. These two general
practitioners could have undertaken treatment of minor ailments of
school children as well as seeing their own patients at ante-natal
clinics and advising the health visitor where necessary on problems
arising in the infant welfare clinics. There would also have been no
insuperable obstacles to their undertaking the routine work of medical
examinations in the adjacent schools. All of this is work in which
many general practitioners have an understandable and commendable
interest, but it will not, I fear, be possible to include them if the Local
Executive Council decides that ten or more existing doctors all share
the work on the estate.
HEALTH EDUCATION
Last year I referred to the fact that I felt health education was
one of the most important functions of a health department. I think
it fair to say that whilst Medical Officers, Health Visitors, Sanitary
Inspectors and others have a deep knowledge of matters pertaining
to health, they have little training in methods of "putting it across"
to others. Both Medical officers and Health Visitors receive their
basic training in the treatment of the sick, and it is only later that
attention is given to the promotion of health. Even those Medical
Officers who take a D.P.H. still do not receive adequate training in
health education methods, and it is only the more recently qualified
Health Visitors who have received any instruction in this field.
It is thus necessary to arrange suitable "in-service" training and
the highlight of the year was undoubtedly the visit of Dr. Davies,
Education Officer to the Central Council for Health Education, who
came to Barking in order to give us a two-day course on modern
methods of health education. The course was attended not only by
Medical Officers, Sanitary Inspectors and Health Visitors but by others
including the Chief Chiropodist, Oral Hygienist and Mr. Howlett
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