ABSTRACT
It may not be easy or practical to give adequate advice and help about birth control in the course of a busy surgery. However the general practitioner was the most common source of professional advice and just over half the mothers who had discussed it with their doctor felt he had enough time to talk about it. General practitioners more often than clinic doctors suggested that mothers should go on the pill. Those who thought they might discuss marital difficulties with their general practitioner were more likely to have discussed family planning with him than mothers who would not or were uncertain, 47 per cent compared with 36 per cent. Slightly less than a half, 42 per cent, of those who got it elsewhere had first discussed it with their general practitioner. Of course many mothers may be fairly well known to their general practitioner whereas they will not to the doctor at the family planning clinic.
