View report page

82
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1914.
of schools has its own care committee. The school care committee organisation is assisted by a staff
of paid organisers. The activities of the whole organisation in connection with medical work are many,
and they have contributed greatly to the success of the Council's treatment scheme. Attending at
the medical inspection, explaining the doctor's recommendations, advising the parent as to how to
secure treatment, visiting to ensure that treatment is obtained, and again to see that continuing care
is persevered in, arranging for food for the necessitous, for convalescent homes for those needing them,
and for the prevention of cruelty; in all these ways it is possible for the care committee to assist the
education authority in its oversight of the physical development of the children in its schools.
The task of supplying the care committees with such information as they require lies with the staff of
trained organisers and it is to their marked ability that much of the success of care committee workis
due.
Re inspections.
84,500 re-inspections of children found defective were made during the year. The results of
re-inspection show that out of every 100 children found defective 50 per cent. had commenced to receive
treatment by the end of six months, and, after a further six months, treatment had been commenced
in 23 per cent, of the remainder. In the cases of ear, nose and throat defects, and of dental
defects, difficulty has been especially experienced, but this difficulty is steadily diminishing. The
success of the Council's treatment arrangements is shown by the fact that children are more rapidly
and satisfactorily dealt with under the Council's scheme than by other methods of treatment.
Special
measures for
improving
the attendance
of
children for
treatment
Special reference must be made to two measures adopted during the year which it is hoped will
have the effect of removing difficulties previously encountered in persuading parents to obtain treatment
for their children. The first measure is referred to in a minute amending article 44 of the Code, which
provides that time spent at a treatment centre or hospital included in the medical treatment scheme
of a local education authority, as approved by the Board, may be regarded as school attendance.
This provision removes a difficulty felt not only by teachers, but by the children and the parents themselves,
for many parents are as interested as the teachers in regularity of attendance at school. As
a hindrance to treatment, objection on this ground may appear to be trivial, but its influence is real
and has been marked by many observers. Some increase in grant is obtained under the new regulation,
though not to the extent anticipated owing to the cost of the machinery for registration at the hospitals
and centres.
The second measure was given effect to by the Council on the recommendation, of the Highways
Committee, and permits parents and children visiting or returning from school treatment centres and
hospitals co-operating with the Council to travel any distance in a single tramcar for one halfpenny for each
each person. This arrangement has been much appreciated by the parents, especially in cases where
many visits have to be made for continuing treatment.
Government
grants.
The regulations of the Board of Education issued in August, 1913, provided that grants would
be made to local education authorities in respect of medical inspection as well as in respect of medical
treatment and work ancillary to treatment. The amount received in 1914 for the year ended 31st
July, 1913, was £31,191 1s. 6d. or 48 per cent. of the total expenditure on these services. A letter dated
29th March, 1915, has been received from the Board stating that for the year ended 31st July, 1914,
it has been decided to make a grant of £38,149 7s. in respect of the school medical service. The Board's
letter continues as follows:—
"The Board are glad on this occasion to recognise, by the payment of grant at the
maximum rate, the steps taken by the authority to remedy the defects in their school medical
service to which attention was drawn as the result of the last inspection of the work by the
Board's medical officers. It should, however, be understood that the assessment will be subject
to annual revision, and that in fixing the rate of grant in future years the Board will have
regard not only to the maintenance of the existing standard of efficiency, but also to the extent
to which provision is made for such improvements and developments of the work as may be
required in order that the needs of the area may be completely met."
Examination
of
Candidates.
The number of candidates for permanent appointments in the school service and candidates
for scholarship awards who were medically examined decreased from 6,045 to 6,015. Special reports
were made in regard to 1,012 employees who were unable to carry out their duties owing to personal
illness, an increase of 214, or 26.8 per cent. In addition, 250 claims for exceptional treatment in respect
of illnesses alleged to have been contracted during the course of school duties were investigated. The
pupils in the Council's institutions for higher education, and the London County Council scholars in
attendance at aided secondary schools, have also been inspected.
Open air
Schools.
The open-air schools at Birley House and Shooters Hill were both kept open throughout the
year. The Kensal House School for tuberculous children has been continued. The playground classes
have largely increased in numbers and some of them were held in the public parks.
Special
Schools.
6,963 children were examined with a view to admission to special schools; of these 3,165 were
certified as suitable for admission thereto, and the remainder were either returned to the elementary
schools or found to be unsuitable for any of the Council's institutions. The results of the periodical
re-examination of the children in the schools for the mentally and physically defective are also shown.
An analysis of 150 cases of idiocy and imbecility made by Dr. F. C. Shrubsall appears on page 137.
Personal
hygiene
scheme.
The council's cleansing schemes have been in operation throughout the year, mere are now
24 stations, at 20 of which treatment has been extended by the inclusion of scabies. 917,582 children
were examined, of whom 28,361 were found to be verminous. 14,392 children were cleansed by
the parents and 42,557 cleansings were carried out by the Council and borough councils. 589 children
suffering from scabies were given a total of 3,212 baths. Proposals are under consideration