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57
SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
Section 30 of the London Government Act, 1963, places the responsibility for providing a school
health service upon the Inner London Education Authority, and the day-to-day operation of the
service in Westminster is my concern as Principal School Medical Officer. For its efficient and
economical working, arrangements were made under provisions in the Act for the joint use by the
City Council and the Authority of professional and clerical staff and of premises. The following
report to the Inner London Education Authority was submitted in respect of the school health service
for the year 1966:—
Wherever possible children with physical handicaps are recommended to attend ordinary schools
so that they may receive the education available in the academic stream of comprehensive schools
or proceed to a grammar school in due course. When this is done arrangements are made for social
workers to maintain continuous contact with the child in school and in the home from pre-school
days until school leaving age.
With the commencement of the autumn term, a pilot scheme for the selective medical examination
of school children at 7 years and over was introduced in six schools in the City. The parents of
these children were informed that there would be no routine medical examinations, but that if they
wished to consult the school medical officer about any specific medical problem an appointment
would be arranged. At the same time, school doctors, nurses, teachers and care committee workers
were asked to bring forward any child failing to make satisfactory educational or physical progress,
or any other child about whom they were concerned.
Under this scheme only those children who are thought to require medical examination are seen;
more time can therefore be devoted to them and a thorough investigation made of their personal
backgrounds. During the term, 219 children were examined and the sources of reference were:—
School Medical Officer 41
Head Teacher 8
School Nurse 37
Divisional Education Officer 2
Care Committee Worker 2
Parent 13
Other Agencies- Routine, re-inspection 116
219
Whenever possible health visitors are allocated as school nurses to infant and junior schools in
the area served by the clinics on which they are based. This provides continuity so that the child
attending for a medical examination at his first school meets the health visitor he knows as a result of
visits to the clinic in pre-school days. It also ensures that the background knowledge of the health
visitor with regard to the child's life is available to the school medical officer.
Parents are encouraged to take their children to welfare centres for immunisation before school
entry. During school life, every effort is made to persuade children to complete the immunisation
programme recommended by the Minister of Health. Sessions are held at schools or in local
welfare centres, as appropriate, and the medical suite at City Hall is also used on occasions.
The B. C. G. vaccination scheme for schools continues to work smoothly and it is gratifying to
report that more private schools and adult colleges are participating. It is, however, disappointing
that at some adult colleges, the number of students presenting themselves for vaccination is very
small and represents only a fraction of the vulnerable group.
As a result of difficulties experienced in appointing an additional full-time medical officer for
employment in the personal health and school health services, an enquiry was directed to general
practitioners in the City. A number expressed interest in the school health service, and it has been
possible to recruit several of these who are now undertaking sessional work as school medical
officers. There are certain advantages in general practitioners undertaking this work; not only
because in many cases they are able to see their own child patients in the school, but also because
it forges a further close link between the general practitioners and the local authority health service.
Out of a total of 63 schools, 12 were being attended by local general practitioners by the end of 1966.
In co-operation with the Regional Hospital Board, ophthalmic sessions for school children are
held in the clinics; 1,045 children were seen and 244 pairs of glasses were prescribed.
The clinic for diathermy treatment of verrucas continues to be well attended and expands from
one to two sessions weekly as need arises. Four hundred and fifty-five new patients were seen and
treated during 1966.