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103
Report of the County Medical Officer—Education.
"In Hampstead, St. Marylebone, Paddington and Westminster the individual schools are entirely,
responsible for their own cases.
" In St. Pancras and Holborn there is no local fund, but the Local Spectacles Committees occasionally
assist individual schools to maintain a small fund of their own.
"In Fulham and Hammersmith the School Attendance Aid Committee undertakes the work of
Spectacle supply, an arrangement which appears to be working satisfactorily.
"This leaves 17 areas with local funds (as the two Hackney Local Association areas have one
joint equipment fund).
" I11 most areas grants and loans are given. One or two areas give, in theory at any rate, loans
only, and in one area only grants are given.
"Many hundreds of loans of amounts varying from 9d. to 3s. 6d., extending over periods ranging
from two weeks to many months, have been given. O11 the whole the repayments have been quite
satisfactory, notably in St. Pancras, Battersea and Wandsworth and Camberwell, where a considerable
proportion of parents have repaid the full cost. It has been found helpful to ask the parents to sign a
simple statement, promising to repay in small weekly instalments whatever their share of the cost of
the spectacles may be. This amount is marked off weekly 011 one of the pink collecting cards (obtainable
from the Local Correspondents), and the parents become quite keen 011 meeting their obligations. In
Camberwell the better-off schools sent subscriptions to the Spectacles Fund, and some also got up entertainments
to help the poorer schools—an example which might well be followed in other districts.
" The returns show what a large number of agencies help in the supply of spectacles. Among
these the Hospital Sunday and Saturday Funds hold the first place. It is interesting to learn that
through the Head Master of one of the Council Schools an athletic association sent a cheque for £10
to the latter fund because of the help it gives in the supply of spectacles. The figures from six areas
show that while 262 pairs of spectacles were supplied by the local fund, 459 pairs were supplied through
the local Committee by other agencies.
" Great variety in regard to local finance is shown in the reports. One vast area aims at a Reserve
Fund of £50 and an annual income of £15, which it estimates would meet its needs; others again
estimate that an income of many times this amount will be needed. Though it cannot at present be
said that the poorer areas are 011 a permanently satisfactory financial basis, yet it is most encouraging
to see how quickly and easily up to the present the children have obtained their glasses and how well
the arrangements appear to be working with the approved local opticians, who, in almost all parts
of London, attend at the hospitals and treatment centres to measure the children."
I11 addition the following leaflet was issued by the Central Committee.
Suggestions of Procedure in Connection with Provision of Spectacles.
Parents should understand that there is no general fund available for making grants for spectacles, and
they should, as far as possible, be encouraged to repay the cost of glasses in instalments.
Collecting cards C.C. 1/249 for this purpose may be obtained from the Secretary of the Local Association
and accounts with the Opticians should be settled quarterly to allow time for the repayments to be collected.
Where Care Committees need assistance in the supply of Spectacles, they should use all available sources
(e.g., Church relief funds, private help, Hospital Sunday and Saturday funds, &to the local fund. In many cases a successful concert or entertainment in the school has enabled a Care Committee
to obtain sufficient funds to meet the needs of their spectacle work for a very considerable period.
It is desirable that, wherever the parents do not pay the full cost, Form 41 C. should be filled up in order
that their contributions may be fairly assessed. Where application is made to a local fund this should be sent
with Form A. to the local spectacle committee.
Form B. 1 should be sent to the local committee at the end of each school term, all cases being included,
whether or not assistance has been obtained. Form B. is issued simply for the convenience of those committees
who desire to keep their records upon it. Forms A., B. and B. 1 may be obtaired from the Secretary of the
local association.
The following suggestions are made with a view to reducing to a minimum the needs for repairs and
obtaining the full benefit from the glasses.—
(a) Complaints as to the quality, &c., of the glasses should be reported at once to the local spectacle
committee.
(6) Where the teachers are willing to give the required assistance, a spectacle roll call should be instituted
in each class so that any child ordered spectacles and not wearing them might be rej orted to the Care Committee.
Note.—The following information was prepared by the Finsbury Association.
1.—Grants from the Hospital Sunday Fund.
These can only be obtained from the Vicars of Parishes or Ministers of the Free Churches. In the first
instance it is always necessary to ascertain what Church or Chapel the parents of the child concerned are connected
with, or to what Sunday School or Band of Hope or similar organisation, if any, at a Church or Chapel,
the child itself belongs. You should then apply to the Vicar or Minister, as the case may be, giving the
following particulars :—
(o) Name of the child. r
(b) Age of child.
(c) Address of child.
(d) Appliance required (in this case spectacles of course).
(e) Name of optician or maker.
(f) Estimated cost.
(g) Name of Hospital or Doctor ordering spectacles.
In .addition, it is well to give particulars of the circumstances of the family as far as you know them
"'and to mention how much the parents are paying towards the cost.
On receiving your applications, if the Vicar or Minister approves, he will procure a letter from the Hospital
Sunday Fund, which will probably be for about half the cost of the spectacles required. This letter is to be
given to the optician along with the balance of the cost when yon pay the bill.
Fn the case of a child or family not connected in any way with a Church or Chanel, you should apply
to the Vicar of the parish in which the family live.