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PERSONAL HEALTH
and was organised by a Principal Medical Officer and the Health Education
Officer. Occasional evening meetings were arranged at which immigrant
groups could discuss health topics in their own language.
Posters on health subjects were displayed on notice boards throughout the
Borough, in public buildings, shops and factories, and in doctors' and
dentists' surgeries; and leaflets and booklets were distributed. Many members
of the staff — in particular health visitors, home nurses, midwives,
doctors and public health inspectors — promoted health education in the
course of their day-to-day contact with the public.
Health Education
In Schools
The Health Education Section enjoys a good relationship with the Education
Department and with the schools. Courses and lectures on smoking, drug
addiction, dental health and sex education were arranged for head teachers,
teachers and parent-teacher associations.
In primary schools, dental health and smoking were the subjects to which
attention was mainly directed: A dental health programme in 36 schools
was carried out by the Health Education Officer, a dental officer and a health
visitor; and the subject of smoking was dealt with at fourteen schools by the
Health Education Officer and a doctor.
In Secondary Schools, lectures and film programmes on the following subjects
have been given, mainly by the Health Education Officer: smoking
(20); venereal disease (6); childbirth (4); drug addiction (1); personal
hygiene (1).
Two health visitors continued a regular syllabus on mothercraft, and, with
parental consent, on sex education.
Mental Health Act 1959
Health Services and
Public Health Act 1968
Mental Health
It is the duty of a local health authority to provide mental health services
under the Mental Health Act 1959 and subject to the provisions of Section 12
of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968.
The provision of residential accommodation continues to be an important
feature of community care services. The Council's ''Windsmill" Recuperative
Hostel affords accommodation for those recovering from mental illness,
but recourse to voluntary homes and hostels for this class of patient continues
to be necessary. The Council's purpose-built hostel for twenty mentally
subnormal children, and known as "Cheviots was completed during
the year and was due to open on 1st January, 1971. The first of two twentyplace
hostels for subnormal adults will be completed during 1971.
At the end of the year, the total of all classes of the mentally disordered
maintained in residential accommodation, whether local authority hostels,
homes run by voluntary associations or in private households, was 84.
Tabulated statistics relating to the Mental Health Service are at the end
of this section of the report.
Mental Illness
The London Borough of Enfield is within the catchment area of Claybury
and Friern Hospitals, to which patients requiring hospital treatment for
mental disorder are admitted. The North Middlesex Hospital provides
psychiatric beds in a modern unit to which suitable patients are admitted for
short-term observation and treatment.
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