London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1956
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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Medical inspection
The School Health Service and Handicapped Pupils Regulations, 1953, require that
(except under special arrangements) general medical inspections shall be carried out at
least three times during the child's school life. However, the Ministry of Education
circular No. 269, of 25th August, 1953, indicated that the Minister would be prepared to
approve schemes not based on periodical inspections if local education authorities wished
to experiment in this direction. In London the practice for many years has been to carry
out four general medical inspections at specified ages during school life. During 1956,
a small departmental working party was set up to consider the whole field of the
Council's schools medical inspection arrangement, and in particular whether any
alteration to four periodic inspections was desirable. The working party had not completed
their deliberations at the end of the year under review.
Details of the medical inspections carried out m 1956, with comparable figures tor the two previous years, are as follows :
| 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General medical inspections | 'Routine age groups | Entrants | 44,415 | 41,162 | 37,423 | |
| 7 years old | 44,604 | 38,161 | 34,259 | |||
| 11 years old | 34,312 | 37,290 | 34,033 | |||
| Leavers | 27,892 | 25,308 | 25,650 | |||
| Total | 151,223 | 141,921 | 131,365 | |||
| Nursery | 7,958 | 8,164 | 8,632 | |||
| Other ages | 27,593 | 26,552 | 23,492 | |||
| Special schools | 2,470 | 2,518 | 2,450 | |||
| Training colleges | 178 | 177 | 156 | |||
| Secondary schools annual surveys | 16,667 | 13,978 | 11,811 | |||
| Total general inspections | 206,089 | 193,310 | 177,906 | |||
| Other inspections | Special inspections | |||||
| 'Urgents' and 'Specials' (a) | 27,262 | 24,380 | 23,256 | |||
| Employment certificates | 4,604 | 4,521 | 5,377 | |||
| School journeys | 19,503 | 22,400 | 25,220 | |||
| Miscellaneous (b) | 8,223 | 6,210 | 6,549 | |||
| Total | 59,592 | 57,511 | 60,402 | |||
| Re-inspections | "Nutrition cases (c) | 64,909 | 68,051 | 64,565 | ||
| Other | 107,131 | 101,278 | 96,186 | |||
| Total other inspections | 231,632 | 226,840 | 221,153 | |||
| Total all inspections | 437,721 | 420,150 | 399,059 | |||
Notes :
(a) Pupils brought urgently to the attention of the school doctor by parents, heads, school nurse, care committee, etc.
(b) Handicapped pupils for their special defect, candidates for higher awards, nautical school, etc., children engaged
in theatrical employment, T.B. contacts, etc.
(r) Pupils receiving school meals, extra milk or vitamin capsules on the recommendation of the school doctor (see
page 101).
Apart from annual surveys in secondary schools children seen at routine inspections
in 1956 formed 37.3 per cent. of the total of 445,870 on school rolls, compared with
40.5 per cent. in 1955.
The percentages of these children who were referred for treatment (other than for
infestation or teeth) compared with the preceding years were :
99