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London County Council.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1927.
VOL. III—PUBLIC HEALTH.
CHAPTER I.
REPORT OF THE COUNTY MEDICAL OFFICER FOR THE YEAR 1927.
By F. N. Kay Menzies, M.D., F.R.C.P. (Ed.), D.P.H., F.R.S.E., County Medical
Officer of Health and School Medical Officer.
Introductory Note.
The two annual reports, to which this note forms the introduction, deal
separately with the health circumstances of the population of London as a whole
and with the health of the school-child approached individually and regarded apart.
It might be thought that this year a disproportionate amount of space had been
allotted to one of these two aspects of a subject which, broadly regarded, is in purpose
and effect indivisible. During the present year, however, it has been thought
less necessary to enlarge upon the administration of the general public health services,
because some of these services have been very extensively dealt with either in recent
annual reports or as separate monographs. In this latter category may be included,
e.g., sewage disposal, common lodging houses, venereal disease and tuberculosis.
Again, the school medical service, joining hands with social agencies, is more
intimately in touch with the domestic lives of the people and, in this way, exercises
a material influence on the general public health. Friendly and intimate talks to
parents on the health of their children, the subject which is nearest to their hearts,
is a most potent factor for good. Since the advent of medical inspection in London
two generations of scholars have come within the purview of the school medical
service, the outlook of the child has been broadened in every way, and the resulting
reflex action upon the parents has undoubtedly improved the home environment.
It would be invidious to choose among the manifold activities of this vast
social service, but, in the present report, special attention has been directed to
rheumatism and other crippling physical defects of childhood. The problem of the
nursery school, too, has been discussed at a length merited by its importance.
The Council has very good reason to be proud of its organisation for the amelioration
of the life of the child. Everywhere the young life is aided by willing hands.
Administrators, teachers, doctors, nurses, organisers and voluntary care committee
workers, all unite to assist the parents in the endeavour to guide the child along the
way of life that leads to useful citizenship. The physically defective, the blind, the
deaf, and the feeble-minded child is afforded every possible opportunity to reduce his
handicap in competition with his more fortunate brother in the struggle for
existence. Voluntary agencies are associated with the school organisation in the
supply of clothing, boots, spectacles, etc., where they are needed.
The lighter side of life is not neglected, playground classes and healthy entertainments
are provided in the intervals of school work. School journeys and visits to
places of interest aid in the acquisition of knowledge and the cultivation of powers of
observation. Athletic sports, cricket, football, netball, hockey, teach comradeship
and team work, and elementary schools are beginning to have traditions and heroic
ideals in the same way as the older public schools. Such a school fellowship may well
be the foundation of a life-long trust, a memory, and an incentive.
(6)
1000—(0.12940—7«i)—6.7.28—15435