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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.
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 35 persons made a total of 197 attendances.
Smokers' Clinic
Five courses of five weekly evening sessions were held. One hundred and
forty-six persons paid 429 visits, an average of three visits per person.
Thirty persons achieved full attendance and 26 attended four sessions. The
average attendance per session was 17.
Twenty-six 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.
An analysis of the results obtained by the smokers' clinics was made again
this year by means of a questionnaire. This was sent to persons who had attended
the clinics during 1966, one year prior to the questionnaire, to discover their
subsequent smoking habits.
The questionnaire was sent to 113 men and 43 women, of whom 54 men and
17 women replied. Of those who replied, 14 men (25%), and four women (25%),
were non-smokers one year subsequent to attendance at the course; six men and
one woman had substantially reduced the amount smoked; and four men had
changed from cigarette to pipe smoking. One man had died of lung cancer.
Although the results of these surveys continue to be disappointing there is
comfort in the small success obtained and a salutary significant reminder in the
death reported from lung cancer.
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