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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act as a liaison officer between the care committees and. the hospital authorities. Today
this co-operation takes several forms, in which the children's care organisers working in
the public health department play an important role. At some hospitals special sessions
are provided for the treatment of school pupils and organisers make the appointments
and attend the sessions. At other hospitals the organiser, although not present at the
sessions, undertakes the making of the appointments. At certain other hospitals the
organisers attend to carry out the liaison between the children's out-patient departments,
the specialist clinics, the school health service and the children's care organisation.
The report of the children's care organisers working in the out-patient department of Guy's Hospital illustrates the wide scope of this liaison between the school health service and the hospitals. The following is a short statistical summary of the report :
| Hospital department | New cases | Total Discharged— | |
|---|---|---|---|
| attendances | treatment complete | ||
| Children's | 272 | 978 | 121 |
| Ear, Nose and Throat | 264 | 590 | 149 |
| Vision | 123 | 1,417 | 594* |
| Orthoptic | 19 | 553 | † |
| Orthopaedic | 100 | 183 | 76 |
* Spectacles either obtained or not needed.
† Not available.
The total number of attendances of school-pupils seen in departments of the hospital
attended by the organisers was 4,427.
Treatment
statistics
Ministry or education returns call tor information on all treatment known to have
been provided whether by the Council or otherwise. Such statistics are necessarily
incomplete, since no figures are available from general medical and dental practitioners,
opticians or from the many hospitals that have no direct link with the Council's
organisers. Even at some of the co-operating hospitals, the medical records and documentation
adopted by the hospitals, for the purposes of their own returns to the Ministry
of Health, do not enable separate figures for the L.C.C. school-pupils to be extracted.
Care should, therefore, be exercised before attempting to draw conclusions about the incidence of defects or the extent to which treatment has been obtained, from the figures that follow :
| Type of clinic | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Vision | New cases | 34,420 | 34,425 | 35,637 |
| Attendances | 94,176 | 93,082 | 92,904 | |
| *Orthoptic | New cases | 1,410 | 1,276 | 1,275 |
| Attendances | 11,643 | 11,200 | 10,455 | |
| *Ear, Nose and Throat | New cases | 6,439 | 4,642 | 4,194 |
| Attendances | 15,056 | 11,826 | 10,880 | |
| Audiology | New cases | 1,153 | 1,164 | 1,234 |
| Attendances | 2,954 | 3,299 | 3,318 | |
| Minor Ailments | New cases | 166,173 | 165,558 | 157,957 |
| Attendances | 757,220 | 739,923 | 684,507 | |
| Dental | New cases | 129,712 | 121,362 | 115,587 |
| Attendances | 300,912 | 317,684 | 332,785 | |
| *Rheumatism | New cases | 786 | 613 | 503 |
| Attendances | 5,681 | 5,003 | 3,997 | |
| Nutrition | New cases | 1,090 | 933 | 526 |
| Attendances | 10,594 | 9,565 | 5,136 | |
| *Enuresis | New cases | 592 | 535 | 409 |
| Attendances | 3,466 | 3,275 | 3,016 | |
| Special Investigation | New cases | 904 | 867 | 1,202 |
| Attendances | 5,626 | 5,587 | 9,290 |
* Hospital and specialist services provided by boards of governors or regional hospital boards.
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