London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hounslow 1970

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hounslow]

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and many requests for further information
and involvement have followed. A similar
presentation was made in September to a
national group of Welsh social workers.
For the third year in succession the
project was visited by a group of scholars
from Asia Africa and the Far East who, under
the auspices of the World Council of Churches
came to Britain to study British social work
experiments. The Hounslow Project is voted
the most interesting of many fieldwork visits.
With Dr Bennett's encouragement experimental
group work using social functioning
methods, was tried over twelve months with
delinquent boys at a nearby senior boys'
approved school Results were compared
with the satisfaction/frustration patterns
obtained from a study of three of Hounslow's
well-known youth clubs and latterly with
a large sample of students of the University
of Surrey Further plans to add to this study
a sample group of handicapped young people
could not be completed in the time A paper
on this work was presented to the National
Youth Service Association and aroused much
interest.
In August Louise Dighton was invited to
visit the West Coast of America to share with
social workers there her experiences in the
development and use of social functioning
ideas Lively interest was shown bv various
helping agencies hospitals welfare departments
delinquency services and others and
engendered a steady demand for training.
In Hounslow clergy from the parish of
Heston are now adapting social functioning
methods and philosophy to the needs of
parish work and a studv of personal patterns
of satisfaction and frustration forms an
integral part of the Preparation for Marriage
groups that meet regularly.
In conclusion the Hounslow Project has
surveyed the satisfaction/frustration patterns
of many groups both within and outside the
Borough - those who function and those who
fail to function under the great pressures of
modern life It has proved the value of the
new scale of social functioning as a quick
and effective diagnostic instrument. At a
significant moment in the history of social
work it offers social workers a new tool, plus
a philosophy whose significance has yet to
be fully realised Many plans have not materialised
but continuing work supports the researchers
belief in the value of this new approach as a way
of helping people to live more satisfying lives.
Finally, the two principal workers in this
research, Professor Heimler and Miss Louise
Dighton, wish to express their great indebtedness
to the health committee, and in particular to
Dr Lindon for unfailing support and encouragement
throughout the difficult and often frustrating
life of this complex research.
Cervical Cytology
There has been a slight decrease in the number
of women attending the council's clinics for
primary smear and other screening tests Some
industrial concerns co operated by allowing
groups of women to have time off to attend' the
clinics and at the invitation of the management
a weekly cytology and screening session was
held at a large factory in the borough over a
period of several months Of the 212 women
examined at this factory there were no positive
smears but 36 women were referred to their
family doctors for gynaecological and other
reasons.
The Council's service was expanded by the
introduction of three-yearly re-tests for women
who had attended previously for their primary
test and during the year 414 women attended
for this purpose all of which produced negative
results Apart from taking a cervical smear
the examination consisted of routine urine
tests recording of blood pressure examination
of breasts and bi-manual vaginal examination
Two thousand four hundred and one women
had cervical smears taken at the Family Planning
Association s clinics in the borough Smears
are also taken at hospital gynaecological
clinics and in family doctors' surgeries the
total number of women who have been screened
in the borough is therefore not known.
The following statistics relate to women
examined at the council s clinics.
36