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DOMICILIARY SCHEME
8.4 In 1967 the Marie Stopes Memorial Foundation ceased to operate its domiciliary
scheme in Camden, to which fourteen cases had been referred during the year, and
responsibility was taken by the borough to provide a direct service. Probably because
of the local clinic coverage, the domiciliary family planning scheme has never been
used to any great extent, and there were no new referrals in 1967 and only eight during
1968. No patient is visited without prior notification to her own general practitioner.
MEETINGS OF MEDICAL STAFF
8.5 At about quarterly intervals, lunch-time meetings are held which give the
doctors undertaking family planning sessions the opportunity to discuss items of common
interest. The informal discussion at these meetings has proved a most useful background
to the expanding service. The changed procedures arising from the new scheme have
been discussed and a new family planning record form produced. Since some of the
doctors undertaking family planning sessions for Camden also work for voluntary organisations
such as the Family Planning Association and the Marie Stopes Centre, there has
been an efficient feed-in of up-to-date information, especially about new products on the
market.
VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS
8.6.1 MARIE STOPES MEMORIAL FOUNDATION LIMITED
Camden has within its boundaries a unique reminder of the pioneering days of
birth control services. In 1925, Dr. Marie Stopes moved the clinic, which she had begun
in Holloway in 1921, to new premises at Whitfield Street, W.l. This clinic, the first in
the country, has been functioning for 47 years. On the death of Dr. Stopes in 1958, the
premises were left to the Eugenics Society, who in turn set up the Marie Stopes Memorial
Foundation Limited. Camden residents totalled approximately one-fifth of their clients in
1967. As well as the birth control and I.U.C.D. clinics, advice is available at the clinic
on marriage difficulties, pregnancy diagnosis, etc., and there are no restrictions on sex,
marital status or age for patients over 16.
BROOK ADVISORY CENTRES
8.6.2 Advice on birth control ahd help with allied difficulties is also made available
to young people through the Brook Advisory Centres. About one-seventh of their clients
are Camden residents.
FAMILY PLANNING ASSOCIATION
8.6.3 During 1967 an estimated 800 new patients resident in Camden attended the
Association's clinics in Hampstead, Holborn and Islington. In addition to ordinary
contraceptive advice, the Association provides specialist services such as I.U.C.D.
clinics and advice on sub-fertility or psycho-sexual difficulties.
8.7 Dr. Susan Tracy, Associate Medical Officer of Health, and in general charge of
our personal health services, has a special interest in the organisation and development
of our family planning services. Her expertise is nationally recognised, and she leads
her team effectively and with intuitive insight.
CERVICAL CYTOLOGY
9.1 in October 1966 the Minister of Health issued a Circular Memorandum (18/66)
on "Population Screening for Cancer of the Cervix" giving blanket approval under
Section 28 the National Health Service Act, 1946, for local health authorities to take
cervical smears for cytological investigation by hospitals. This provided an opportunity
to extend our existing pilot scheme which had necessarily benefited only a limited
number of women, to a full screening service for detection of cancer of the cervix in all
women over the age of 25 who live or work in Camden.
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