London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1930
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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As a result of the visits and re-examinations the following re-classifications took place:—
| Transferred from schools or classes for | Re-classified as: | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.D. | M.D. | Sight saving. | Blind. | Deaf. | Hard of hearing. | White Oak Swanley. | Open-air school. | Epileptic colony. | |
| P.D. | — | 20 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| M.D | 3 | — | — | — | 1 | — | 1 | — | 5 |
| Sight saving | 1 | 3 | — | 8 | — | — | 1 | — | — |
| Blind | — | — | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Deaf | — | — | — | — | — | 4 | — | — | 1 |
| Hard of hearing | — | 2 | — | — | 11 | — | — | — | — |
76 children were excluded (53 as imbecile, 11 as feeble-minded ineducable, and
12 as feeble-minded detrimental) and 41 were invalided on medical grounds.
There were also 540 cases returned, on improvement, to elementary schools or when over 14 years of age, excluded as no longer certifiable, the details are as follow:—
| Special school classification. | P.D. | M.D. | Blind. | Deaf. | Sight saving. | Hard of hearing. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Returned on improvement to elementary schools | 180 | 19 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 19 | 230 |
| Over 14 years of age, excluded as no longer certifiable | 158 | 97 | 2 | 2 | 46 | 5 | 310 |
Be-certification
of P.D.
children.
The following table shows the number of children who improved to such an extent that they were able to return from the special (P.D.) schools to the ordinary elementary schools or were "no longer certifiable" as defective between the ages of 14 and 16 years:—
| Defect. | Cases passed no longer certifiable. | Cases passed fit to return to elementary schools. |
|---|---|---|
| Heart | 68 | 57 |
| Rheumatism | 5 | 15 |
| Tuberculosis | 25 | 21 |
| Infantile paralysis | 23 | 10 |
| Rickets and deformities from this cause | 2 | 10 |
| Various traumata | 9 | 14 |
| Congenital deformities | 3 | 17 |
| Non-tuberculous arthritis, and synovitis, including pseudocoxalgia | 4 | 9 |
| Chorea | 6 | 13 |
| Anaemia | 1 | 2 |
| Osteomyelitis | 6 | 3 |
| Various paralyses | 2 | 3 |
| Miscellaneous, nervous conditions, ataxia, etc. | 4 | 6 |
| Total | 158 | 180 |
Mental
Deficiency
Acts. Cases
notified to
the local
authority.
The following table shows the number of cases notified by the Education
Authority under Section 2 (2) of the Mental Deficiency Acts 1913-1927, during the
year 1930. The figures in brackets are those for the previous year:—
Boys. Girls.
(а) Feeble-minded—
(1) Leavers 179 (89) 210 (81)
(2) Detrimental 16 (7) 12 (6)
(3) Special circumstances 0 (1) 0 (1)
(4) Ineducable 20 (0) 17 (1)
(b) Imbecile 209 (81) 166 (58)
(c) Idiots 34 (3) 24 (11)
(d) Moral defectives 0 (0) 0 (0)
458 (181) 429 (158)
Total 887 (339).