ABSTRACT
The National Health Service (Family Planning) Act 1967 was a tentative step in that direction. Among mothers, the pill was as notorious for its health hazards as the safe period for its unreliability. Health visitors are in many ways ideally suited for this role. One reason – or consequence (the effect is circular and self-perpetuating) – is that many health visitors have unrealistic ideas about the present contraceptive habits of the families they visit. All the groups of people over-estimated the frequency with which the pill was used but the health visitors were particularly unrealistic. Most health visitors recognize, in theory, that family planning education is part of their job. General practitioners and health visitors should offer people help on family planning without waiting to be asked, and at the same time people should be encouraged to ask for advice.
