View report page

Services for other Adults.
The curative services for all including adults have been made
more widely available since the implementation of the National
Health Service Act but the preventive services, other than those
especially for the groups just mentioned, are very limited. The
mass X-ray service is, of course, available to all and there is a
preventive aspect to some hospital Out Patients Departments and
treatment Clinics, e.g. the Chest Clinic and Ophthalmic Departments.
Dental inspection is also encouraged, with special facilities
for young adults, but of routine medical inspections there is very
little apart from the military and similar services. Some hospital
staffs are regularly supervised and many employees have an initial
examination on appointment, which gives an opportunity for
preventive advice.
It is not suggested that it would be practicable at this time
to introduce routine periodical examinations for all, but it is
thought this gap should be mentioned in a survey such as this, for,
until an extension of school medical examinations can be introduced,
many of the earliest signs of abnormality will remain undiscovered
and the tendency will be for ill-health to have advanced
too far to be reversed, before it is first noted. As and when such
extended supervision is contemplated, it will almost inevitably be
found that Specialists in prevention will be needed to staff the
service, for almost invariably a person responsible for both treatment
and prevention is attracted to the former to the exclusion of
the latter. Moreover, routine examinations and health education
can be very boring and unattractive, hence some form of compensation
will be required to attract suitable recruits for the medical
profession and this in turn may prejudice the inauguration of such
a service, but its potential importance is so great that the possibility
of its introduction should not be forgotten.
Massage Establishments.
The provisions of Part IV of the Surrey County Council Act,
1931, relating to the registration and management of massage
establishments, are in operation. There are 16 such establishments
in the Urban District.
Care of the Aged.
With the increasing proportion of the population who live on
until regarded as aged, considerable attention has been focussed
on their health and welfare. Numerous Old People's Associations
have been set up and the W.V.S. and Guild of Social Service also
assist, their main object being to see that the aged have friends
visiting them and have the food and amenities they need. Special
social clubs have been organised and even one Home for the
elderly has been opened in Purley, mainly through voluntary effort.
The County Council has also provided two similar Homes just
outside the District and the Urban District Council has organised
and subsidised a 'Meals on Wheels' service for those who woul
37