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It will be remembered that this Council for some years past
has been dealing with the children attending the County Council
Schools who have been found to be verminous. Negotiations
proceeded for some while both as to the payment for the past and
that for the future. Both these have now been settled, and since
the termination of the summer holiday of 1911 we have been carrying
out the work.
I give some idea of the plan and its magnitude which is carried
out by our clerical staff in addition to the actual cleansing, and
which is an altogether new duty thrown on this department since its
re-organisation some ten years ago—
(1) The school nurse reports to us day by day the number
of children she has excluded from school by reason of their
verminous condition, coupled with the request that we deal
with the homes under the London County Council General
Powers Act. Upon receipt of these names, of which we not
uncommonly receive 20 per day, the cases are entered in a
special register and indexed. As it repeatedly happens that
certain cases are reported by the nurse over and over again
with a few days' interval, it is obvious that this indexing is a
long business, and necessitates constant cross reference to the
previous inspection. When it is undoubtedly a fresh case a
complaint sheet is made out and given to the inspector for the
district. He visits the home, makes an inspection of the
bedding and clothing, also of the general condition of the house,
and in many instances, if thought desirable, has the whole of
the bedding removed and disinfected. As soon as the inspection
has been completed the sheet is returned to me, and the
result of the inspection is copied into the register, and a form
giving similar information is now sent at their own request to
the County Council.
(2) When each child has been cleansed at the station, the
Superintendent brings the cards to the Town Hall, as they
represent the basis for the account. They are all entered in the
register of verminous cases, because it sometimes happens that
a child has had a bath, but may not have been reported to us by
the school nurse The importance, therefore, of the duplicate
entering is obvious, because it ensures the inspection of every
child's home. From January up to date of this year 1,661
entries have been made and indexed in the Verminous Register.
(3) The account side of this work is also important, inasmuch
that it represents an income to the department, and it is,
in addition, the most complex part of the whole work, because
according to our agreement a child can only be charged for once
in one month, irrespective of the number of baths. It is very
important that no mistakes are made with the account (which
has to be worked by a system of one month in arrear, so that
the duplicates can be weeded out), because the London County
Council have all the account cards, which are checked by the