540

Notes and News

RELIABILITY OF FERTILITY DATA

PREGNANCY histories culled from interviews with women

provide data for some important aspects of fertility analysis,and the results of an investigation’ designed to assess the accu-racy of such histories have been issued by the O.P.C.S. Thestudy compared pregnancy histories obtained from interviewsconducted in 1967 with a probability sample of women in Eng-land and Wales aged under.45, with those obtained from thesame women in 1972. The women concerned had been marriedbetween 1960 and 1967, and were still married in 1972. Of1384 women interviewed in 1967 and 1972, the replies of 1350were analysed for accuracy about pregnancy histories. 1799pregnancies were recorded in 1967 and 1762 in 1972. Thechief discrepancies in the two sets of responses were differencesin the dating of what was apparently the same pregnancy, andomissions (or apparent omissions) of pregnancies on one orother occasions. 169 pregnancies were given with differentdates in 1967 and 1972; 87 of the pregnancies recorded in1967 were omitted in 1972, and 49 of the 1972 pregnancies didnot appear in 1967. The report suggests that in both kinds of

discrepancy, miscarriage was the most likely outcome of thepregnancy. Because few questionnaires contained discrepan-cies in the total number of pregnancies recorded on the twooccasions, the report concludes that most questionnaires arereliable in the data they yield about pregnancy histories, andthat any variability seems to be "unsystematic, and to origin-ate as much from the arbitrary errors of recording and process-ing as from the respondents".

ELECTRICIANS GO PRIVATE

ON July 30 the Electrical Contractors Associationannounced agreement on a medical insurance scheme for pri-vate medical care for members of the Electrical ElectronicTelecommunications and Plumbing Union, arranged throughits Joint Industry Board. 40000 employees are eligible formedical insurance under the scheme, which will provide coverfor short-term specialist treatment of surgical or acute medicalconditions, on the recommendation of the patient’s generalpractitioner and, later, for health checks. Members’ subscrip-tions to the British United Provident Association are paid bythe employers and are taxable; the Government seems to behaving second thoughts about introducing exemption.2

Items covered by the scheme will include:

(1) Accommodation in a hospital or nursing-home and full-timehome nursing, of which the total cost is refundable; .

(2) Specialists’ fees for major operations, of which costs of250 and£50 for surgeons’ and anaesthetists’ fees respectively will be reim-bursed. A supplementary benefit of up to 700 is payable for majoroperations such as open-heart surgery;

(3) Physicians’ fees of up to 70 per week or part-week, for inpa-tient treatment, and a supplementary benefit for physicians’ fees forintensive care for up to 14 days a year;

(4) A cash benefit, if the insured employee opts for N.H.S. hospitaltreatment, of ;E13 a night for a maximum of 182 days a year (£2366in a year) "to do with as you please".

(5) A fixed-sum pregnancy benefit of £75, payable in the 28th weekof pregnancy and after 10 months’ continuous membership of thescheme. Specialist treatment, such as cassarean section, would also bepaid for.

(6) Favourable terms of cover, at the member’s expense, for themember’s wife or husband and unmarried children under 21. Theannual subscriptions are /33 for a wife or husband and £45 for a wifeor husband and all unmarried children under 21;

1. The Reliability of Fertility Data obtained from Pregnancy Histories: Studieson Medical and Population Subjects No. 40. By MYRA WOOLF. H.M.Stationery office. £1.25.

2. See Lancet 1979; Sept. 1, p. 482.

(7) Regular health checks by mobile road and rail clinics every 3years. The examination will include electrocardiogram tests and ablood test. The first screening visit to the mobile unit will involve unpaidleave from work, but travelling expenses will be met by the employer.

Predictably, the scheme is not designed to cover long-termcontingencies such as chronic illness necessitating long-termcare, or indefinitely prolonged mental illness.

University of Natal

Prof. Y. K. Seedat has been appointed to the chair of medi-cine in succession to Prof. E. B. Adams.

Rampton Special HospitalThe Secretary of State for Social Services has appointed the

team to review the organisation and running of Rampton Spe-cial Hospital. In July he appointed Sir John Boynton, formerlychief executive of Cheshire County Council, to head the.team.The other members are: Mrs M. Armitage, formerly directorof social services for Sheffield; Captain W. I. Davies, a retiredprison governor; Mr J. C. Gardner, area nursing officer forHertfordshire; Mr D. J. King, district administrator for ExeterHealth District; Dr J. M. Roberts, consultant psychiatrist atSt. James’ Hospital, Leeds; Mr F. Walters, formerly vice-chair-man of Trent Regional Health Authority; Mr C. Williams,principal psychologist at the Royal Western Counties Hospital;and Mr B. Wollett, charge nurse at the drug addiction unit,Bethlem Royal Hospital. The review team is expected to reportbefore the middle of next year. Its report will be published.

Clofibrate Relicensed in GermanyThe Federal agency responsible for the licensing of drugs in

West Germany has lifted the ban on clofibrate, but use of clofi-brate-containing drugs will be restricted to cases which arerefractory to dietary management. Each package of the drugwill have to contain a note explaining the benefits and risks oftreatment with clofibrate.

A scientific meeting of the Royal College of Obstetricians andGynaecologists entitled "Maternity Services in the DevelopingWorld-what the Community needs" will be held at the College onSept. 13, 1979. Details and application forms may be had from theSecretary, R.C.O.G., 27 Sussex Place, Regent’s Park, London NWl4RG.

Correction

Pertussis Immunisation Convulsions Are Not Evidence of Encepha-lopathy.-We apologise to Dr J. B. P. Stephenson for an omissionfrom his letter (Aug. 25, p. 416). The age of the children at test wasbetween 8 months and 47 months.

Diary of the Week

Monday, 10thINSTITUTE OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Gold-

hawk Road, London W6 OXG12.30 P.M. Dr R. Benzie: The Present Place of Fetoscopy in Antenatal Diag-

nosis.

Tuesday, llthROYAL INFIRMARY, Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9YW

3 P.M. Dr Richard L. Cruess: Aetiology, Natural History and Management ofCortisone-induced Osteonecrosis.

Thursday, 13thROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON, 11 St. Andrew’s Place, Regent’s

Park, NW14LE4.30 P.M. Dr Desmond Gareth Julian: The Significance and Management of

Ventricular Arrhythmias.INSTITUTE OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY, Queen Charlotte’s Maternity Hos-

pital, Goldhawk Road, London W6 OXG12.15 P.M. Dr Kerry Bluglass: The Psychosocial Consequences of Sudden 10-

fant Death Syndrome.