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Report of the Medical Officer of Health. 89
An urgent need in this Borough is adequate covision for OpenAir
Schools for children. At present the only school available
faces Clapham Common in the Borough of Battersea, and owing
to its site only serves a limited area of this Borough. By the end
of the year only five children, all notified cases of tuberculosis,
were attending this School, and three more had been passed as
suitable.
Approximately there are 180-200 notified children in the
Borough who should be attending such a school. More than
half of these live in the Garratt I.ane area, and it is in this area, or
in one reasonably accessible to it, that an Open-Air School is needed.
Further, owing to the great difficulty frequently found in the
diagnosis of tuberculosis in children, it would be advisable if
open-air schools were provided for those children who are debilitated,
but not definitely tubercular. Many such are seen in Dispensary
practice and would benefit from treatment in an open-air school,
but at present cannot be recommended unless they are notified
cases.
After-Care Work
In November the two Interim Care Committees, formed
respectively in April, 1917, and May, 1919, for the two halves of the
Borough, were amalgamated as one Borough Care Committee.
The Committee consists of members of the Borough Council, representatives
from the County Council, Public Health Department
of the Borough Council, and many of the organisations connected
with the relief of distress in the area, together with several members
personally interested in the work. The Committee was fortunate
in obtaining the services, as Secretaries, of Miss F. Walker and Mrs,
Nicol, who had acted in the same capacity for the Interim
Committees.
One of the duties of the Committee is to make assessments as
to the amount of payment to be made by a non-insured person
recommended for sanatorium treatment. A very important duty
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