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 1957
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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| Age groups | Numbers inspected | Pupils who had tonsillectomy | Percentage | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys | Girls | Total | Boys | Girls | Total | Boys | Girls | Total | |
| Nursery (under fives) | 4,118 | 3,900 | 8,018 | 187 | 126 | 313 | 4.5 | 3.2 | 3.9 |
| Entrants | 19,226 | 18,384 | 37,610 | 1,561 | 1,201 | 2,762 | 8.1 | 6.5 | 7.3 |
| Seven-year-olds | 16,027 | 15,432 | 31,459 | 3,020 | 2,579 | 5,599 | 18.8 | 16.7 | 17.8 |
| Eleven-year-olds | 21,930 | 20,993 | 42,923 | 6,234 | 5,602 | 11,836 | 28.4 | 26.7 | 27.6 |
| Leavers | 15,191 | 14,081 | 29,272 | 4,185 | 3,974 | 8,159 | 27.5 | 28.2 | 27.9 |
| Total | 76,492 | 72,790 | 149,282 | 15,187 | 13,482 | 28,669 | 19.9 | 18.5 | 19.2 |
A circular from the Ministry of Education giving the results of the survey throughout
England and Wales for 1956 shows that the tonsillectomy rates for the three main age
groups were as follows :
Entrants 6.9%
Eleven-year-olds 20.2%
Leavers 20.9%
The Ministry state that ' For all practical purposes the rates were the same in English
counties and county boroughs .... and the frequency of the operation was about the
same in both sexes'. In London, the corresponding rates were 7.8 per cent., 28.7 per
cent. and 30.8 per cent. respectively, with higher rates for boys than for girls in the
first two groups and a higher rate for girls in the leavers group.
Nutrition
As was explained in last year's report, the Ministry of Education now require a 2 point
classification of ' physical condition ', so that no direct comparison is possible with
previous years. It is apparent, however, that the physical condition of the pupils continues
to improve, only 2.7 per cent. being graded ' unsatisfactory' in 1957, compared with
5.0 per cent, in 1956.
The table below shows the classifications under the two separate scales for 1953/55 and 1956/57 respectively, together with the percentages referred for treatment or observation of nutrition defects :
| Classification | Referred for Observation | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A—Good | B—Fair | C—Poor | Treatment | |||
| Percentages | ||||||
| 1953 | 53.3 | 44.3 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 1.9 |
| 1954 | 57.6 | 40.4 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 1.8 |
| 1955 | 60.4 | 38.0 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.6 |
| 1956 | 95.0 | 5.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 1.8 | |
| 1957 | 97.3 | 2.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.2 | |
Nutrition
re-inspections
Pupils receiving vitamin capsules on the recommendation of the school doctor are
re-inspected each term. During 1957 the number of such re-inspections was 56,304.
The classification of general condition recorded at these ' nutrition ' re-inspections, with comparable figures for previous years, was as follows :
| Good | Fair | Poor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | 10.7 | 68.0 | 21.3 |
| 1954 | 13.0 | 70.1 | 16.9 |
| 1956 | 17.5 | 70.3 | 12.2 |
| 1957 | 19.2 | 69.1 | 11.7 |