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compared with 1,432 in 1922. In addition, 218 children had the advantage of
convalescence through the Invalid Children's Aid Association with the financial
assistance of the Council.
The scheme of co-operation between the Council and the Association, under
which, in return for a grant, the Association provides convalescent treatment for
children, and also assists in the provision of surgical appliances for children who
had received treatment under the tuberculosis scheme, was continued during 1923.
The sum paid to the Association during 1923 was £2,000. During 1923 the Association
received 236 applications for convalescent treatment, and 218 children were
sent away with the assistance of the Council's grant. The remaining 18 cases
were found to be ineligible. In addition to these, 26 children were sent away without
help from the Council's grant-in-aid, as the parents were able to pay the full cost
of treatment. 37 children were supplied with surgical instruments with the help
of the Council's grant-in-aid.
As in 1920, 1921, and 1922, the Council arranged with the Association for the
children attending the Council's schools for tuberculous children, to go away to the
seaside for a fortnight's holiday during the summer of 1923. 202 children were
sent to a convalescent home at St. Leonard's-on-Sea, the Council making a grant
of £435 towards the cost.
In addition to the provision for treatment of tuberculous children in residential
institutions, the Council continued the use of five open-air schools specifically for
children notified under the Tuberculosis Regulations, 1912, as suffering from
tuberculosis of the lungs or of glands with no open wounds.
The children are admitted on the certificate of the medical officer of the Council,
and preference is given to those returning home after treatment in a sanatorium.
The five schools—Camberwell, Elizabethan, Kensal House, Springwell House, and
Stormont House—have, together, accommodation for 365 children.
During 1923 140 children were admitted to the schools and 149 discharged.
Of the latter, 42 were fit for elementary school, 75 were fit for work, 21 were transferred
to hospital or sanatorium, 8 moved away, and 3 were discharged for other
reasons.
At Springwell House the average gain in weight of the children was 3.1 kilograms
(1 child only lost, 1 kilogram). At Kensal House the average gain was 2.81
kilograms, while the average gain at the three remaining schools was 3 kilograms
(2 children whose weight remained stationary are not included).
The medical officer of Stormont House School stated that from a medical
standpoint he was in every way satisfied with the progress of the children at the
school, and that parents frequently expressed their gratitude for the improvement
in their children's health. He referred again to the annual reunion of old pupils,
mentioning the fact that, with one exception, all those present were in employment,
as evidence that attendance at one of the schools for tuberculous children is not
prejudicial to a child's chance of obtaining work.
The following observations are quoted from the report of the medical officer
of the Elizabethan School:—
" The majority of children have improved materially in health and physique,
and, as one would expect, the improvement has been more marked in the early
cases. A number of the children have marked evidence of lung disease, generally
dating from an attack of pneumonia, but the physical signs in these cases have
remained almost stationary, and, although their general health has improved
materially, it cannot be said that the disease has been arrested.
" At the weekly clinics a good deal of attention has been devoted to children
who have acquired faulty habits of deportment, breathing and speech, and some
of the children appear to have benefited considerably from the advice given.
Education and training is much needed to remedy these defects, as they have a bad
influence on the children's health and mentality.