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Foot Inspections
School nurses make regular foot inspections to
discover the presence of plantar warts and other
contagious skin conditions of the foot During the
year 14 428 foot inspections were carried out and
487 new cases of plantar warts and 32 cases of
re infection were found A pamphlet was prepared
for and was issued to school children
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
Minor Ailment Clinics
These are staffed by nurses and are held at clinic
premises each morning Here are treated slight
injuries skin infections and minor defects of eye or
ear The number of attendances is falling and most
sessions now take less than 30 minutes
School Consultation Clinics
These are staffed by a medical officer and regular
sessions are held at the various clinic premises
Parents are free to take their children for advice on
any condition and pupils may be referred by head
teachers school nurses etc and these sessions
also provide facilities for the follow up of conditions
found at periodic and special inspections Where
active treatment is required the pupils are referred
to their own doctor or specialist clinics and most of
the work done by the medical officer is advisory
educational or supportive
Ophthalmic Clinics
The vision of entrants to school is tested during their
first year in school and this testing is repeated at
age 7 11 and 15 years When an eye disease,squint
or defect of sight is found parents may use the
facilities of our ophthalmic clinics where refraction
is carried out by ophthalmic surgeons A total of
2,676 children were seen at these clinics during the
year and spectacles were prescribed for 747 pupils
The examination of the vision of spastic and
other children with severe physical handicaps requires
The defects found at periodic and special
medical inspections are shown in Table 31
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 17 490 examinations and
found lice or their eggs in the hair of 199
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 persuasion nor
threats seem to have any effect In most cases
the parents deal with the matter as soon as
their attention is drawn to it but 27 formal
notices requiring the parent to cleanse the
child had to be issued and in 14 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
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