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Detection of children suffering from phenylketonuria
As a result of the routine testing of babies to detect phenylketonuria, a rare inborn
metabolic disorder which can give rise to mental defects, one child was found to be affected
and was admitted to hospital where it received treatment and was making good progress
at the end of the year.
Children ' at risk '
There has been a gradual re-orientation of the work of clinic doctors and health visitors
during the past few years towards the special care of babies born with physical and mental
handicaps. Registers of all handicapped children as well as of all children at risk of congenital
handicap, based on notification from the hospital maternity and domiciliary
midwifery services, have now been set up. This procedure is fully described in the article
on deafness (Appendix B).
In division 2, an analysis made of the results of the follow-up of babies on the ' at risk '
register for the first eighteen months has shown that 919 cases of defect, amounting to
some seven per cent, of the live births, have been found in the period. This is an indication
that the work involved is very well worth while.
Fifty-four per cent, of the children on the 'at ‘risk’ register were tested by 'stycar'
test and on first testing eight per cent, of these were found not be satisfactory (about
four per cent, of the children 'at risk'). On subsequent testing about a half of the children
found not to be satisfactory proved to have normal hearing and the remainder were
referred to the audiology unit for investigation.
Among the children 'at risk' the following additional defects were found before six
months of age:
Talipes Eye (cataract)
Mongol Abnormal external genitals
Hare lip or cleft palate Congenital heart
Cerebral palsy Achondroplasia
Multiple deformities Meningocele and spina bifida
Abnormality of feet
Voluntary work
In January 1962 the Minister of Health issued circular 2/62 which, in inviting local
authorities to complete plans complementary to ' A Hospital Plan for England and Wales '
in respect of (a) the prevention of illness and (b) care in the community for which they
were responsible, drew attention to the part that was already being played by voluntary
organisations and suggested that voluntary effort had not reached its full potential. This
was followed in April by circular 7/62, in which local authorities were asked to consider
how their arrangements for co-operation with voluntary organisations could be improved
or extended. A meeting was accordingly held in July, at which members of the Health
and Welfare Committees discussed with representatives of the British Red Cross Society,
Family Service Units, the Family Welfare Association, the Invalid Children's Aid
Association, the London Council for Social Service, the St. John's Ambulance Brigade
and Association and Women's Voluntary Service the place of voluntary effort in the health
and welfare services. It was recognised that London is particularly well served by voluntary
bodies which, along with individual volunteers, assist the Council and the people of
London in many fields. A number of suggestions were made for possible development
which, at the end of the year, were under consideration by the organisations concerned.
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