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43
At the head cleansing centres, 20,362 children attended during the year compared
with 22,138 in 1936.
The figures in the above tabular statement are obtained from records kept on a
terminal basis at each of the centres, and, as is the case with the rota inspection figures,
a child may be recorded more than once in the same year. The individual record
cards at the centres show that in 1937 a total of 63,451 children attended the bathing
and head-cleansing centres, compared with 66,464 in 1936 and 75,023 in 1935. Not
all these children were, however, referred under various stages of the cleansing scheme,
but a certain number attended voluntarily before their departure for residential
schools, country holidays, etc., or at the request of parents, teachers and others.
Children taken for compulsory cleansing are either accompanied to the centre
by the school nurse or, in the case of outlying schools, taken by ambulances.
In 1937, 12,510 children were conveyed in the ambulances.
Children suffering from scabies and impetigo are treated at the bathing centres.
The total of such cases was 10,962 for the year, a considerable increase on the number
for the previous year (8,389).
Co-operation with the medical officers of the City of London and the metropolitan
boroughs in remedying verminous conditions in the homes of children has been
continued.
The high incidence of scabies which shows still further increase gives cause for
concern. The difficulties in dealing with this scourge are great. While school
children can be, and are, inspected, the disease, which is very contagious, affects
older and younger members of the family who cannot be inspected ; and, although
they are offered facilities for treatment by the local sanitary authority, there is no
means, other than persuasion, of ascertaining their condition or of bringing pressure
upon them to take advantage of the facilities. The school children who have been
treated return to homes where other members of the family are untreated and
re-infection is frequent.
In the early part of 1937, consideration was given to the measures which could
usefully be taken with a view to reducing the incidence of impetigo and scabies. It
was decided to adopt the following measures:—
(1) The education officer to arrange for school attendance officers to forward
to the divisional medical officers information concerning children suffering,
or suspected to be suffering, from scabies or impetigo.
(2) Head teachers to be asked to co-operate by drawing the attention
of the assistant medical officers or the school nurses to children with sores, scabs,
or other abnormal conditions of the skin, and to report on the appropriate form
to the officers concerned information regarding children absent or excluded from
school suffering from scabies, impetigo, or abnormal skin conditions.
(3) A letter, indicating the facilities for treatment provided at the Council's
bathing centres, to be circulated to the voluntary hospitals and private medical
practitioners. The medical officers of health of the metropolitan boroughs very
kindly arranged for the distribution of this letter to the hospitals and practitioners
in their respective areas.
(4) School nurses to be invited to attend a "refresher" lecture and
demonstration dealing with scabies, impetigo and allied skin complaints in
school children, to be conducted by members of the Council's medical staff at
the group laboratory at the North-Western hospital.
The co-operation of the sanitary departments of the Borough Councils in respect
of simultaneous disinfection of homes is gratefully acknowledged.
A scheme by which children attend certain public baths of the Borough Councils
for warm baths has existed for several years. Parties are formed with the consent
of the parents and are accompanied by the school nurse, who excludes any suffering
from contagious disease.
The number of children attending for warm baths during school hours in 1937
was 25,031, compared with 30,263 in 1936.
Scabies and
impetigo
Warm baths