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London County Council
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1937
VOL. Ill (Part II)
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL MEDICAL OFFICER FOR THE YEAR 1937.
By Sir Frederick Menzies, K.B.E., M.D., LL.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S.E., K.H.P.,
County Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer.
Introduction
Since 1902, when the school medical service in London began its work under
the leadership of Dr. James Kerr, great strides have been made in improving the
health and physical condition of the children. The death-rate of children of school
age has been much more than halved, diseases rife in the schools before its
establishment have completely disappeared. Among these may be mentioned
favus, a particularly repulsive scalp disease, for which in the early days of the
service it was necessary to establish a special school in east London; chlorosis,
the green sickness, from which many older girls suffered; and severe forms of
ophthalmia, such as trachoma.
The aim of the service is preventive, only a small proportion of its time and
energy is devoted to the provision of crutches for "lame ducks"; its main business
is the prevention of lameness.
Blindness and deafness among children have greatly diminished, as has also
crippling from tuberculosis ; and in every way the condition of the school children
is better, healthier and happier. Great efforts are still necessary, particularly in
regard to dental work; more than one-third of the parents remain apathetic to
the need of care and attention to their children's teeth.
The provision of better premises for medical and dental treatment is being
pushed forward with energy, and reference may be made to two replacement
centres opened during the year, which are models of construction and equipment.
These are the Marylebone health centre, No. 2, provided by the Marylebone Borough
Council and in which the "Lissonia" school treatment centre is now housed, and
the Hoxton treatment centre in Sarah-street, Shoreditch, built by the Council
itself but rented to a local centre committee. A great deal of the success obtained
by the service has been due to the children's care organisation, with its voluntary
workers numbering over 5,000 members, and to the generous support of the
teaching staff.
Among the many extensions and improvements in the service recently made
to which reference is made in the pages of this report, are:—
(i) Close attention to the nutritional state of the children, the introduction
of continuous height and weight charts for all, and the establishment of
" nutrition centres " where special research is carried out and where parents
are instructed in dietetic methods.
(ii) The extension of annual dental inspection in the schools to all children,
and improvement generally of the dental services, including the development
of an " orthodontic " service for the regulation of badly placed teeth and
ill-shaped jaws.
(iii) The large extension of audiometric testing, whereby loss of hearing
is rapidly detected at its earliest appearance, and the introduction of special
methods of treatment to restore hearing or to arrest the progress of the
condition.
(iv) The treatment of squint in young children by methods of re-education.
(v) The establishment of nursery schools and nursery classes for the care
of children under five years of age.