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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117
School meals, milk and vitamin supplements
A return to the Ministry of Education for a day in the Autumn Term, 1957, showed
that 201,914 pupils, 55.2 per cent. of the number present, were provided with school
dinners ; of these 16,524 received dinners free of charge. On the same day, 332,636
children had school milk, including some children absent through sickness whose milk
was collected for them. Vitamin capsules are supplied daily without charge to children
recommended for them by the school medical officer ; other children whose parents so
desire may have them on payment of 1s. a term.
The figures for school meals are lower than normal, owing to the large number of
absences caused by the influenza epidemic. At the peak of the epidemic over 25 per cent,
of the children on the school rolls were absent. The epidemic is discussed in fuller detail
on page 16.
Vision Vision is tested at the periodic general medical inspections, and also at age 13, as part of the comprehensive health survey. The results of the tests at; general medical inspections during 1957 are as follows :
| Visual acuity (with glasses, if worn) | Percentage referred for treatment | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/6 % | 6/9 % | 6/12 or worse % | % wearing glasses | Total | Already wearing glasses | Not wearing glasses | ||
| 7-year-old | Boys | 79.1 | 13.6 | 7.3 | 3.4 | 7.0 | 0.8 | 6.2 |
| Girls | 78.9 | 14.1 | 7.0 | 3.7 | 7.3 | 0.8 | 6.5 | |
| 11-year-old | Boys | 84.2 | 8.1 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 7.8 | 2.6 | 5.2 |
| Girls | 80.8 | 10.3 | 8.9 | 9.0 | 9.6 | 3.0 | 6.6 | |
| Leavers | Boys | 84.2 | 7.3 | 8.5 | 10.3 | 8.3 | 3.5 | 4.8 |
| Girls | 80.8 | 9.6 | 9.6 | 13.4 | 9.9 | 4.5 | 5.4 | |
| Other ages | Boys | 83.0 | 9.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 9.0 | 2.8 | 6.2 |
| Girls | 79.3 | 11.5 | 9.2 | 10.1 | 11.1 | 3.7 | 7.4 | |
As can be seen, a proportion of those referred for treatment of defective vision
were wearing spectacles already. This proportion rose from about one-tenth at age
seven to rather more than two-fifths at age 15. The higher total percentages of children
referred for treatment at older ages was thus almost wholly due to cases needing natural
adjustment of refraction correction with the passage of time.
In 1957, the incidence of defective vision and the percentage of pupils referred for
treatment of defective vision remained fairly stable compared with the preceding years.
As experienced over many years, the recorded incidence of defective vision was greater
among girls than boys.
Squint was most prevalent in the entrant group, falling to insignificant residual
level in the leaver group. The overall figure of pupils referred for treatment of squint
was 0.6 per cent., compared with 0.7 per cent. in 1956, 0.8 per cent. in 1955 and
0.8 per cent. in 1954.
Hygiene inspections and the cleansing scheme
The number of pupils found at the school health visitors termly and annual health
surveys to be ' verminous' continues to decline, although at a slower rate than has been
the experience during the years since the war. The figures for 1957, with comparable
percentages for the last four years, are as follows :