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119
The treatment of dental defect presents more difficulty owing to the large
number of failures to keep appointments for operative treatment. This is the result
in many cases of parental prejudice, and makes it necessary to arrange appointments
for a number of cases rather in excess of the number treated.
In the following statement the ailments are dealt with separately in the ordersuggested
by the Board of Education.
(a) Minor ailments.—88,447 children received minor ailment treatment,
an increase of 8,118 on the number for 1924. The arrangements with the
Metropolitan Asylums Board for the treatment of contagious ophthalmia have
been extended to cover cases of interstitial keratitis, and 116 children were sent
to White Oak during the year. This number included 26 cases of trachoma,
a pleasingly small number if compared with 1924 when 216 cases of trachoma
were sent.
(b) Visual defects.—36,356 children were dealt with under the Council's
scheme for refraction. Spectacles were prescribed in 25,555 cases, and in
22.957 cases (89.8 per cent.) were obtained.
(c) Nasal and Aural defects.—The total number of cases treated was 16,699,
of which 15,066 were treated under the Council's scheme. There has been a
steady increase in the cases treated under this heading for some years past.
Probably this is due, not to increase in defect but to the special measures taken
to seek out suffering children and to secure treatment. The scheme which
came into operation in April, 1925, is undoubtedly responsible for a large part
of the increase.
Scheme for
the treatment
of discharging
ears.
The new scheme introduced on April 1st this year under the Council's three-year
programme for the better supervision of children suffering from discharging ears
included the appointment of two assistant aurists for five sessions a week and the
establishment of six special ionisation centres, one in each division except the northwest
division, where two were established to meet the difficulty of transit. In each
division three sessions are held in each week by Dr. Wells and the two assistant
aurists.
The centres deal with children referred by the treatment centre doctors, school
doctors, school nurses, care committees and teachers. These are examined by the
aurists and dealt with according to the condition found in each case. Some are
referred back to the treatment centre most easily accessible for the child, for conservative
treatment recommended by the aurist. Other cases are treated at the
special centres by ionisation, while appropriate cases are referred to the Downs
Hospital for mastoid operation. The latter cases, after discharge from hospital,
attend the " after care clinic " at Kentish Town, which is an institution of the Metropolitan
Asylums Board.
Children requiring operation for tonsils and adenoids are referred by the aurists
to the centre with which the Council has arrangements. An organiser and two nurses
are in attendance and with the aurists form the staff at each of the ionisation clinics.
The nurses under the direction of the aurists undertake the ionisation, while
the organiser is responsible for the following up and is the link between the special
centre and the various treatment centres in the division.