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At the end of the year there were 19 maintained day nursery schools with
accommodation for 1,145 children from two years upwards and five aided day nursery
schools with accommodation for 230 nursery school children.
School nurses attended nursery classes and schools daily and each child was
examined every term by a school doctor.
There was a total of 13,339 children under five years of age on the day school
rolls, 11,603 being in the Council's schools and 1,736 in voluntary or aided schools.
There were nine residential nursery schools outside London with accommodation
for 429 children from two years of age upwards. In addition to a local visiting doctor
the schools were medically supervised by the local maternity and child welfare
authority and a medical officer from County Hall visited each term.
DENTAL SERVICES
The Council's Chief Dental Surgeon, Mr. Wm. Ritchie Young, V.R.D., F.D.S.,
R.C.S.(Eng.), reports as follows:—
Inability to recruit a sufficient number of suitable dental surgeons to maintain
an adequate " priority " dental service continued.
The entanglement of the three dental services under Parts II (Hospital), III
(Local Health Authority) and IV (General Dental service) of the National Health
Service Act, 1946, continued. There was, however, during the year some clarification
of the position.
The Hospital (Part II) dental service was, during 1950, separated from the
Council's dental service with the exception of a small number (185) of orthodontic
patients treated in certain teaching hospitals for the Council's school dental service,
and the provision by the Council's Central Dental Laboratory of the hospital requirements
of considerable numbers of dental appliances (2,643). In addition, at three
centres dental treatment of tuberculous patients was continued by the Council's
dental officers at the request of the hospital authorities. The hospital service continued
to carry out considerable dental treatment for expectant and nursing mothers.
There were discussions with the Executive Council about the opportionment of
cost and responsibility for the General Dental service in health centres (Part IV).
At each of two centres (Shoreditch and Finsbury) a full-time general dental service
dental surgeon continued to serve temporarily under the aegis of the Council on behalf
of the responsible authority—the London Executive Council.
For a third year the Council's policy to develop the maternity and child welfare
dental service (Part III) and to integrate it with the school dental service had to be
held in abeyance owing to staffing difficulties.
As the two dental fields in which the Council has statutory obligations remained
unchanged it is convenient to present details of the work carried out and the staff
position during 1950 under two headings—" School Dental Service " and " Maternity
and Child Welfare Dental Service."