London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1929
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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The following statement shows an analysis of the 455 cases for admission to special (P.D.) schools, in which the children were either returned to elementary schools or invalided:—
| Morbid conditions. | Elementary school. | Invalided. | Morbid conditions. | Elementaryschool. | Invalided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuberculosis, actual or suspected of bones, joints, glands, etc. | 26 | 10 | Kidney disease | 2 | 2 |
| Skin conditions | 2 | 2 | |||
| Various chest conditions, | 10 | 3 | |||
| Congenital deformities | 32 | 16 | bronchiectasis, empyema, etc. | ||
| Rickets and deformities from this cause | 8 | 8 | |||
| Infantile paralysis | 14 | 8 | |||
| Fragilitas ossium | 0 | 1 | Cerebral paralysis | 2 | 25 |
| Osteomyelitis | 5 | 4 | Various other paralyses | 7 | 2 |
| Various traumata | 8 | 2 | Epilepsy | 4 | 1 |
| Heart, congenital disease | 12 | 11 | Encephalitis lethargica | 6 | 5 |
| „ valvular disease | 38 | 24 | Pseudo-hypertrophic muscular dystrophy | 2 | 3 |
| „ non-valvular disease | 30 | 10 | |||
| Ansamia | 3 | 0 | Miscellaneous—Nervous conditions, ataxia, etc. | 43 | 19 |
| Rheumatism and chorea | 33 | 12 | |||
| 287 | 168 |
There were also 578 cases returned on improvement to elementary schools or, when over 14 years of age, excluded as no longer certifiable ; the details are as follows:
| Special School Classification. | P.D. | M.D. | Blind. | Deaf. | Sight Saving. | Hard of Hearing. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Returned on improvement to elementary schools | 161 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 10 | 210 |
| Over 14 years of age, excluded as no longer certifiable. | 206 | 119 | 2 | 2 | 39 | 0 | 368 |
Rota visits
to the
schools.
The special schools were visited at least once a quarter and every child present
was seen at least once during the year, the total examinations amounting to 17,831;
in addition 671 special examinations were made of children already on the rolls of
special schools in connection with applications for non-enforcement of attendance
at special schools and for similar reasons.
As a result of the visits and re-examinations the following re-classification took place:
| Transferred from Schools for | Re-classified as: | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.D. | M.D. | Sight saving. | Blind. | Deaf. | Hard of hearing. | White Oak, Swan ley. | Open- air School. | Epileptic Colony. | Feeble minded detrimental. | |
| P.D | — | 21 | 3 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | 10 | 1 | — |
| M.D | 2 | — | — | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 3 |
| Sight saving | 2 | — | — | 4 | 1 | — | 1 | — | — | — |
| Blind | — | — | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Deaf | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| Hard of hearing | — | 2 | — | — | 15 | — | — | — | — | — |
49 children were excluded as imbecile and 54 were invalided on medical grounds.
The following table shows the number of children who improved to such an
extent that they were able to return from the special (P.D.) schools to the ordinary
Decertification
of P.D.
children.