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194
Annual Report of the London County Council, 1913.
(accommodation 120) which was formerly owned jointly by London and Brighton authorities. To
each institution is allocated a medical officer who briefly is required: (1) to attend the school at least
once every week and at such other times as may be necessary, and to enter the visits and the names
of the patients attended by him in a book kept for the purpose; (2) To examine the children on admission;
(3) to attend any cases of illness occurring amongst the children and to make a note on the cards kept
for the purpose of all serious cases of illness, their course, duration and treatment prescribed; (4) to
furnish reports to the school medical officer on the health of the inmates; (5) to furnish any other reports
or certificates that may be required to the school medical officer; (6) to give immediate notice to the
coroner of the district of cases of sudden or violent death or cases where he does not feel justified in
giving a death certificate of any inmates and to report the circumstances of the case to the school medical
officer. Generally, the medical officers are seldom required to make special reports, but a return of
sickness is made monthly.
The salaries of the medical officers are according to the following scale: £30 per annum in respect
of schools where the total number of children requiring medical attendance is 30 or under and an
additional 8s. a year for each child beyond 30.
A dentist is also allocated to each institution, who is required to visit the school once in each
quarter; to perform all necessary extractions, scalings and stoppings; to arrange the work in such a
way that every child in the school is kept as far as possible free from such oral sepsis as may be due
to unhealthy conditions and to extract teeth and roots that cannot be rendered healthy; to see and, if
necessary, treat every child once in each year; to note on the appropriate cards the condition of each
child's mouth and the treatment carried out, and enter the names of the children treated in a book
provided for the purpose ; to make a short annual report on the condition of the children in the school
with special reference to oral sepsis; and to co-operate with the superintendent in devising means for
maintaining the general cleanliness of the teeth of the children in the school. During the year the
dentists made 93 visits to the schools and treated 945 cases, but some of the children were treated more
than once. In many instances conservative treatment was carried out at the private surgery of the
dentist.
Industrial
Schools.
The recommendations in regard to medical care of the Departmental Committee on Reformatory
and Industrial Schools were as follows:—
"More systematic medical care, periodical medical inspection of the children, and the keeping
of physical records to be required in all schools.
At every school there should be a medical officer whose appointment involves the performance
of a prescribed schedule of duties. These duties should include (1) the examination of all children
on admission in regard to infectious and contagious diseases, before they are allowed to mix with the
other inmates of the school; (2) thorough medical inspection on the lines of a prescribed schedule of all
inmates at regular intervals; (3) periodical re-examination of children found to be defective and of
other children needing it before undertaking special training or work; (4) keeping necessary physical
records; (5) undertaking or obtaining adequate medical treatment in all cases needing such attention ;
and (6) subject to the general control of the central authority, the effective supervision of the sanitation
of the buildings, diet, corporal punishment, physical training, and the general arrangements of the
school routine and curriculum in their relation to the health and growth of the children. The advice
of the medical officer should also be sought in regard to the means and methods of education, in so far
as they should be modified for the mentally retarded or defective child.
More effective supervision to be exercised by the central authority over the arrangements for
medical care and inspection."
These recommendations were in harmony with the practice of the Council in its own schools.
The Home Office have issued a new form of quarterly medical report requiring information as
to daily average number of inmates under care in the school during the quarter, number of visits to the
school paid by the medical officer during the quarter, number of sick cases under treatment at the commencement
of the quarter, number of new sick cases presented to the medical officer for treatment during
the quarter, number of sick cases remaining under treatment at the end of the quarter, deaths, discharges,
daily routine, dental work, dietary, buildings, and examination ot all inmates. The report
requires that cases of illness shall be enumerated under certain specified headings.
Considerable clerical work is involved not only in completing the report, but in keeping the
necessary records in order that the report may be satisfactory compiled. This clerical work was
apparently anticipated by the Home Office, since the form states: "8o far as is possible the information
required by this form should be filled in by the clerk of each school under the direction of the medical
officer."
The form formerly used was a comparatively simple one and could readily be completed at the
end of each quarter, but in view of the detailed nature of the new form it has been necessary to arrange
for an officer at each school to keep records and to make proper entries on the forms under the direction
or the medical officer.
Places of
detention.
The three places of detention maintained by the Council were fully described ic the annual report
for 1912. During the yeac 1913, 2,781 children were admitted as follows : Harrow-road, 1,210 ; Pentonville-road,
1,224; and Ponton-road, 347. The accommodation and classification of the institutions
are ibtated below:—
Harrow-road 45 boys,] 12 to 16 years of age.
Pentonville-road 51 boys, 7 to 12 ) ears of age; 33 girls, 7 to 11 years of age.
Ponton-road „ 40 intants under 7 years of age; 30 girls 11 to 16 years of age.