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results are to be obtained from these visits to
school there should be close collaboration and
consultation between medical officer and head
teacher.
At the 'leavers' examination Form Y9 is
completed for each pupil and forwarded to the
Youth Employment Officer. This form indicates if
there are any health reasons for avoiding certain
types of occupation.
The number of pupils submitted to periodic
medical inspection during the year was 8,704
and the results are shown in Table la. The
physical condition of 132 (1.5%) was considered
to be unsatisfactory. The concept of unsatisfactory
physical conditions varies with the examining
doctors but the important point is that efforts are
made to bring the pupil to a satisfactory physical
state.
Special Examinations and Re-examinations
Any parent, head teacher, school nurse, speech
therapist, physiotherapist or audiometrician, etc
may request the medical examination of a pupil
and these special examinations are usually carried
out at clinics. Regular sessions are held at these
clinics when a medical officer is in attendance to
see school children, and where necessary special
sessions are arranged.

The number of referrals by audiometricians for
special examinations increased from 239 during
1965 to 396 this year, an increase of nearly two
thirds. This reflects an increasingly effective
screening service for the detection of hearing loss
rather than any actual increase in the incidence
of such defects in the child population in the
catchment area.
The defects found at periodic and special
medical inspections are shown in Table 2.
Uncleanliness and Verminous Conditions
School nurses make examinations of children in
regard to cleanliness of person and clothing and
the presence of lice or their eggs (nits). At one
time all pupils were examined at least once each
term but as uncleanliness of person or clothing is
now rare, flea or body lice infestation almost
unknown, and the incidence of head lice greatly
reduced, such regular examinations are not now
held. The nurse now visits schools to carry out
these examinations at the request of the head
teacher or where there are grounds for suspecting
the presence of infestation. During the year the
school nurses carried out 14,063 examinations
and found lice or their eggs in the hair of 148
individual pupils. Today there is no excuse for
such infestation and the infested pupils are now
usually members of a hard core of families on
whom neither threats nor persuasion seem to have
any effect. In most cases the parents deal with
the matter as soon as their attention is drawn to
it, but 85 formal notices requiring the parent to
cleanse the child had to be issued and in 4 cases,
where the parent had failed to respond to the
formal notice, a cleansing order had to be issued
for the pupil to be dealt with by the school nurses.
Medical Treatment
Certain treatment facilities continue to be
provided under arrangements made by the local
education authority and parents may use these
or seek treatment otherwise under the National
Health Service. The following notes refer to the
treatment facilities provided as part of the school
health service. School clinics are listed later in the
report.
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