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89
adjusting to school life, Not only are the conditions familiar.
often the individuals have been met before at clinics and routine
medical inspections.
The co operation of the personal health services seems most
often to be sought by the hospital doctor in the case of children
of school age. One is often called upon to answer questions about
the types of special schooling available and then to pass on the
necessary case details to the office so that places in the special
schools can be applied for with the least loss of time. Sometimes,
having someone immediately avai1able to answer a mother s questions
about what is entailed in sending a child to a special school, for
example, will help her to agree promptly and without anxiety to
the course recommended.
Occasionally questions arise about the types of courses
followed and the standards likely to be expected in the various
categories of day schools, and here, someone who has visited the
schools and so can give a clearer picture of what is meant by the
newer and relatively unfamiliar terms, such as "secondary "modern"
"central" or grammar" school.
There seems at present to be a less close link between
hospitals and clinics in the case of infants and pre school
children. Babies fortunately form a relatively small part of the
hospital attenders, but their difficulties frequently centre round
diet and feeding, either as a sequel to other illness or as an
initial complaint. Even while attending an out patient department
every one or two weeks, many mothers continue to attend regularly
at their usual welfare centre. Could this perhaps, be a point
at which a closer liaison could be established, with the hospitals
making a more deliberate use of the clinics to steer mothers through
their difficulties between hospital attendances? The health
visitors in such cases could follow a recommended line of manage
ment, reinforced, if necessary, by home visits, It would probably
be appreciated by many mothers who find it difficult to travel
quite long distances to hospital with a baby, andpossibly a toddler
too, while the clinic is just round the corner.
The Toddler Clinics might also be made use of when longer
and more leisurely discussion of developmental 01 behaviour problems
is needed. The busy, bustling atmosphere of an out patient
department is not necessarily the best setting for such discussion,
with little to divert the child s attention, and too much to divert
the adults' minds.