View report page

Speech
defects
At the end of the year, 9 centres were open with accommodation for 260 children
for the treatment of stammering and other speech defects. The number of children
who attended these centres at some time during the twelve months was 361, of whom
42 were discharged as cured or very much improved.
Ear, nose and
throat treatment
The in-patient school centres for the treatment of defects of ear, nose and
throat ceased to function at the outbreak of war, but the pre-war arrangements
for the treatment of such defects were re-introduced at Belgrave Hospital in 1940,
the South-Eastern Hospital for Children in 1943, and the Princess Louise Hospital
for Children in 1945. Of the 1,332 children treated at these hospitals during 1945,
914 were operated on for the removal of adenoids and/or enlarged tonsils. In 1938
the number of such operations carried out at 15 centres or hospitals included in the
Council's school medical scheme was 8,894. Throughout the war, children in need of
operative treatment for these conditions had been referred to the Council's general
hospitals and dealt with there and these facilities continue. No record is available
of the number of school children so dealt with.
Rheumatism
The unit from Queen Mary's Hospital, Carshalton, was transferred (with 156
patients) to Yorkshire in July, 1944, owing to enemy attacks, and did not return to
Carshalton until May, 1945, by which time the number of patients had decreased
to 143. By the end of the year the number had risen to 181, and there was a waiting
list. During the whole year, 335 children were admitted for treatment at the unit.
There were also at the end of the year 21 rheumatism supervisory centres in
operation which was the same number as in the early part of 1939.
In the autumn of 1945 a trial was begun at certain of the supervisory centres
of the method of preventing rheumatic recurrences by the administration during the
winter months of small doses of sulphanilamide, and at the end of the year an
investigation was begun at Carshalton, in conjunction with other hospitals of the
Council, into blood concentration levels of vitamin A in rheumatic children.
Personal hygiene
There were 1,378,910 examinations in schools for personal hygiene by the
school nursing staff. Of these, 83,605, or 6.06 per cent. showed verminous infestation.
Every infestation, however slight, was counted. The percentage is less than that
for 1944 (6.39) and compares with 7.3 per cent. in 1938. During the year, 46,863
(48,727 in 1944) children were dealt with at the children's bathing centres; of these,
15,349 (15,785 in 1944) were suffering from scabies or impetigo. The reduction in
the incidence of scabies continued. This may be due to the operation of the Scabies
Order, 1941. Under the provisions of the County of London (Scabies) Regulations,
1943, scabies was made a notifiable disease in London as from 1st August, 1943.
During the year 14,753 cases (all ages) were notified to the borough medical officers
of health, compared with 16,450 in 1944.