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Venereal Disease
The medical social worker attends sessions at venereal disease clinics at hospitals
serving the Borough for the purposes of tracing contacts, following up treatment
defaulters, and assisting patients in meeting social problems.
Advice for the Elderly
Each month, sessions are held at three Council clinic premises and at the
premises of an Old Persons' Welfare Committee.
The local branch of the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance send a
letter to persons granted retirement pension informing them of the clinic facilities
available. Cases are also referred from a wide variety of sources.
The function of these clinics is to offer advice to retired persons or persons
about to retire on how to maintain good health and how to lead a happy and
worthwhile life when they are no longer in full employment and have to undergo
what is usually a major change in their way of living. Advice is given on such
matters as diet, budgetting on a smaller income, exercise, accommodation, loneliness,
and the need for activities such as hobbies, social work and suitable employment.
New cases are medically examined and persons requiring treatment are referred
to their family doctor.
The medical officer who conducts these clinics reports that " During the past
year those who attended the Retired Persons Advisory Clinics were those who
had retired at 60 years of age to those well over 80 years old. On their first
attendance at the clinic each person had a medical examination.
Smokers' Clinic
During the year, five courses, each consisting of six weekly evening sessions,
were held at the Central Clinic, Edmonton, the average attendance at each session
being 19, 20, 16, 27 and 6 respectively. Sessions consisted of lectures by Doctors,
group discussions, and film shows, followed by group physiotherapy under the
direction of a physiotherapist assisted by a health visitor.
The physiotherapy was mainly directed towards mobilising exercises for the
chest and breathing exercises, in groups at the Clinic, with subsequent exercises at
home. Assessment of the success of these procedures was made by the use of the
Wright Peak Flometer and the Vitalograph.
In an attempt to assess the success or otherwise of the Smokers' Clinic, a
questionnaire was sent at the end of the year to thirty-nine persons (twenty-two
females and seventeen males) who had attended any of the sessions of the course
held in January and February.
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