View report page

In addition to these numbers, 3,749 cases of verminous heads were dealt with at the St.
Pancras Centre, 700 home visits were paid in connection with the St. Pancras Centre, and 759
in connection with Lancing Street.
To deal a little more in detail with the features of the work and how it is done.
Each of these Centres is stuffed by doctors and dentists appointed by their respective
Committees, and approved by the Council as specially qualified for the work they undertake.
The nursing is done by County Council Nurses, or by the Nurses of the Camden Town District
Nursing Association, who, under an agreement, do the necessary nursing connected with the
minor ailment departments at the St. Pancras and Lancing Street Centres, The management
of the Centres is vested in the Committees acting through their Secretary, subject to the
approval of the Council, who, under the agreements, provide the necessary funds.
To the uninitiated, the whole scheme may seem somewhat cumbersome; but years of
experience have proved that in practice it works smoothly, efficiently and economically.
As regards the volume of work done the numbers speak for themselves. The need and
nature of the dental and ophthalmic work is obvious. In the minor ailment departments many
skin complaints, minor injuries, and such like every-day troubles, are seen by the doctors and
attended to by the nurses until cured. As an off-shoot of this work, at St. Pancras Centre we
have two women specially trained for the work under the supervision of a nurse, devoting
their whole time to cleansing and treating the heads of children infected with vermin. Any
one who knows how prevalent this trouble is in the schools, and how much unpleasantness and
ill-health is caused by it, will appreciate how valuable this work is.
I should like specially to refer to the Aural work. Children with affections of the ear,
throat and nose are seen at all three Centres, and those cases requiring operations are
dealt with by the surgeons who are treating them at Highgate New Town Clinic. I have
alluded before to this Clinic, and I should like once more to say how fortunate the Borough
is in having such an institution within its boundaries. It is not only a model of what a school
treatment centre should be; but it is the prototype of an operating centre in connection with
this work. It is visited by medical officers of health and others interested in such work from all
parts of the world, In fact, its popularity and renown have become almost an embarrassment
to its management. It was built by Mr. and Mrs. Kolmstamm as a war memorial to their
two sons, and Mr. Kolmstamm most generously defrays the financial deficit on the annnal
working. But it is only fair to say that he feels amply compensated by the pleasure and
happiness he derives from the success that has attended his gift.
As an operating centre, at the present time it serves St. Pancras, Islington, Hampstead
and Holboru; but it has become so popular with parents and Care Committees, that every
contributory centre has long lists of cases awaiting admission, and it is clear that its watershed
area will have to be reduced.