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Advice Clinics for the Elderly
Four sessions are held each month; three of these take place in Council clinics
and one at the premises of the Old Persons' Welfare Committee, Southgate. All
persons entitled to retirement pensions are informed by their local branch of the
Ministry of Social Security that these facilities exist. Referrals are also received
from general practitioners, health visitors, and from a variety of other sources.
The aim of the clinics is to provide advice to retired persons, or those about
to retire. This includes advice regarding the preservation of good health, the
achievement of a balanced diet, budgeting on a small income, exercise, accommodation,
the problems of loneliness and the importance of recreational activities.
The clinics are staffed by one of the Council's assistant medical officers, and
a health visitor or clinic nurse. Persons attending the clinic for the first time are
medically examined and those requiring treatment are referred to their family
doctor. During the year 34 persons made a total of 106 attendances.
Smokers' Clinic
Four courses, two of six weekly evening sessions and two of five weekly
sessions, were held at two clinics in the Borough during the year. The reduction
to five sessions followed the resignation of the physiotherapist and some streamlining
of the course.
One hundred and sixty-five persons made 511 attendances at the 22 sessions,
making an average attendance per session of 23 persons.
Nineteen persons claimed to have stopped smoking, and 31 claimed to have
reduced the amount they smoked, at the end of their course.
The sessions of approximately two hours' duration are devoted to lectures, film
shows, group discussions, and the use of the Wright Peak Flow Meter.
The Principal Medical Officer for maternity and child welfare conducts the
sessions, aided by health visitors, the health education organiser and visiting medical
specialists.
In my report for 1965 I analysed the results of an inquiry into the subsequent
smoking habits of those who had attended the course a year previously, i.e.
January, 1965. I reported that, of the 39 persons concerned, 16 replied to the
questionnaire, and of these 16, four (25%) had been non-smokers for one year.
During 1966 a further attempt was made to assess the value of the work of
the clinic by means of a questionnaire to persons who had attended the clinic
during subsequent sessions in 1965, one year prior to the questionnaire.
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