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86
The ratio of in-patients to out-patients treated in general hospitals was 1 to 5.66,
while of the total patients treated almost half were ante-natal cases.
School dental service
In the latter half of the year under review staffing problems became increasingly
difficult as dental surgeons resigned to transfer to the General Dental Service under
the Local Executive Councils where their earning capacity on a scale of fees method
was substantially greater. In all, the equivalent of twenty full-time officers resigned.
The staff at the end of the year consisted, only, of forty-three full-time officers and
twenty-one part-time officers (equivalent of ten additional full-timers); the number
authorised for the School Dental Service was 67.
As a result of this loss of staff twenty-seven surgeries out of a total of seventythree
were closed or partly closed at the end of the year (in all ninety-three less
sessions per week were being worked) and dental inspections in schools had to be
curtailed to prevent severe congestion at the centres.
Included in this figure of twenty-seven surgeries are seven of the ten mobile dental
units which were purchased (ex-R.A.F.) in 1947. This is the more regrettable in that
it had been found that at schools served by the mobile units the acceptance rate had
seldom fallen below 90 per cent. while at the ordinary clinics not on school premises
the acceptance rate from dental inspections in schools throughout the service in 1948
was 59 per cent.
The restricted nature of the surgery in the mobile units makes them unpopular
with many dental surgeons who prefer a properly equipped static surgery. This
preference will be met when proper dental treatment centres are established in school
premises, and this policy was pressed forward in the year under review. Preliminary
essential dental plumbing was installed in a number of suitable new or reconditioned
schools.
Since 5th July, 1948, Divisional Health Committees have commented upon
the unsatisfactory standards of certain converted houses and shops as treatment
centres—both London County Council "school" centres and ex-Borough Maternity
and Child Welfare centres.
This state of affairs has been appreciated for many years but financial, war and
building difficulties have hindered progress. Staff shortage has been turned to
advantage by abandoning some of the least satisfactory surgeries and utilising staff
in the better appointed premises.
The attendance and routine inspection and treatment figures for 1948 are given
in the following table with comparison with figures in previous years. Up to July
the school dental service was rapidly being restored to its pre-war level and the
figures for 1948, as a whole, show a greater volume of work than in 1947, but during
the last quarter of the year the ground gained was rapidly lost and the 1949 figures
will undoubtedly show a set-back.
1945 1946 1947 1948
Number of Inspection Sessions at Schools 919 1,315 1,588 1,230
Number of Children Inspected at Schools 92,227 138,290 163,528 158,063
Number found to require treatment 64,455 91,441 109,169 102,344
Percentage requiring treatment 69.9% 66.1% 66.8% 64.7%
Additional Number inspected at Centres * * * 44,068
Total number found to require treatment. * * * 146,412
Total cases treated 74,874 91,601 104,305 118,439
Attendances 100,641 171,554 199,840 236,175
Temporary teeth extracted 65,591 110,177 116,795 116,664
Permanent teeth extracted 12,341 18,999 18,716 20,641