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There has been very little change from 1971 either in the number of visits for treat'
ment or the amount of treatment given. I would very much like to see many more young
children under 5 years of age attending the dental clinics, especially for inspection.
Unfortunately, departmental medical officers and health visitors can only refer young
children whose mothers bring them to their clinics. Many young children are not even
seen by a dentist until they start school, by which time, on average, each child has had
decay in 2.5 teeth. At this age only about 17% of children have no decayed teeth.
Welfare Foods
The Council is responsible for the distribution of national welfare foods supplied
by the Department of Health and Social Security.
In addition various proprietary brands of dried milk and dietary supplements are
sold at the child health clinics on the recommendation of the medical officers, health
visitors or family doctors. I gratefully acknowledge the work of all voluntary helpers.
Well Woman Clinics (Cervical Cytology)
Well woman clinics were held regularly in the Borough and there were a total of
341 sessions in clinics and 10 sessions in factory and adult education premises. The clinics
provide for a full physical examination and blood and urine testing as well as a laboratory
examination of a cervical smear to identify early, symptomless cancer of the cervix and
pre-cancerous conditions. In the factory and adult education sessions, the emphasis was
on screening and only a breast and pelvic examination was performed.
Starting in January, a central national cervical cytology registry was set up and any
woman who has previously had a smear is automatically recalled in a further five years.
From that time, a record has been kept in the registry for each smear taken, but some
records had been kept previously and during the year 512 recall forms were received.
Of these 267 were already attending either the well woman or older people's clinics in
the Borough. The remaining 245 women were invited to make an appointment for a
repeat smear : 108 replied that they had already had follow up smears.
Many women are now having cervical smears taken in hospital clinics, family planning
clinics and by their family doctors and 3,808 copies of results thus taken were
received. These women's records were integrated into the Borough's three-year recall
system and they will be invited to attend Council clinics at the appropriate time. This
has already considerably increased the administrative work-load and will entail extra
clinic staff time in the future as well as extra clerical assistance.
Number of women who attended well woman sessions 2,072
Number of attendances 2,128
Number of smears taken 2,077
Number of positive results 5
Although only five women were found to have positive smears for cervical carcinoma
a significant proportion of women were found to have other conditions , e.g. anaemia,
hypertension, breast lumps and infections such as monilia and trichomonas. All were
referred to their family doctors for further advice and treatment.
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