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staff are participating, their fees being paid by the Council. Students from other
authorities taking the part-time course and the Association's full-time day course undertook
periods of practical training of up to two months in London centres.
Attendance at
occupation
centres of
patients under
guardianship
chargeable
to other
authorities
The arrangement whereby a charge of £12 12s. a head a year (plus cost of meals
and conveyance to and from the centre) was made in respect of the attendance at the
Council's occupation centres of defectives under guardianship chargeable to out-county
authorities, was reviewed. It was decided that, unless reciprocal arrangements could
be made with the authority concerned, the full ascertained cost of attendance should
be charged in respect of future out-county cases attending the centres.
Attendance
of London
patient at a
Middlesex
occupation
centre
The Council authorised payment of the full cost of attendance, viz., 12s. 4d. a day
to enable a London patient under guardianship living in Middlesex to attend one of
the Middlesex County Council's occupation centres.
Dental
inspection and
treatment
Because children at occupation centres are not attending school the dental services
provided by the Council's school health service have not been available to them, thus
increasing the difficulties in obtaining proper dental treatment for them. Although the
position in the priority dental service was far from satisfactory, the Council decided
to seek the approval of the Minister of Health to the use of the service by children
attending the occupation centres. It was felt that the number of such children was so
small in relation to the number of schoolchildren that their inclusion in the school
dental inspection and treatment arrangements would cause little additional difficulty.
The Minister was sympathetic to the proposal and suggested that the Council should
seek an amendment of its proposals under section 28 of the National Health Service
Act, 1946, to enable children attending the Council's occupation centres to receive
dental inspection and treatment at its school treatment centres or dental clinics if they
were unable to obtain such treatment by other means. Steps have been taken to secure
the necessary amendment to the Council's proposals.
CO-OPERATION WITH GENERAL PRACTITIONERS
co-operation with other health services has continued on the lines indicated in
the comprehensive statement in my report for 1954 and has been further developed.
The initiative in establishing liaison with general practitioners still rests with the
Council but in some districts there are encouraging signs of increasing readiness,
especially on the part of the younger practitioners, to co-operate more actively with
health visitors and in some cases quite valuable results have been achieved. The extent
of the assistance which can be offered to general practitioners is somewhat limited by
the current shortage of health visitors but the future holds promise of successful developments
in this field, particularly in encouraging general practitioners to take a leading
part in the work being undertaken in respect of potential and existing problem families.
General practitioners co-operated extensively with the Council in its campaigns to
forward diphtheria immunisation and to combat accidents in the home.
At the end of the year, 359 medical officers were employed on a sessional basis and
conducted an average of 720 sessions a week in the school health and maternity and
child welfare clinics. The majority were also engaged in general practice and others
held appointments in hospitals and industry. The practical experience of the personal
health services gained in this way by doctors having professional interests outside the
Council's service is an important factor in the development of co-operation.
SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
Organisation
the school health service, like the maternity and child welfare service, is organised
on a divisional basis (see pages 132-153 for reports of divisional medical officers).
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