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CORPORATION STAFF
Occupational Health Service
Mass Miniature Radiography
A permanent Mass Radiography Unit is operated by the North East Metropolitan Regional
Hospital Board in premises in the City which are owned by the Corporation. Members of the Staff
are encouraged to take voluntary advantage of the facilities thus provided for biennial X-ray of
the chest. For obvious reasons no attempt is made to compile official statistics but it is known
that a large percentage of Corporation employees take advantage of this opportunity for a regular
"check-up".
Medical Emergencies
The arrangement with a firm of medical practitioners in the City to be on call for emergencies
at Guildhall was used on 8 occasions during the year. One concerned a member of the public,
who had an epileptic fit in the Library.
The emergency service was instituted because the Medical Officer of Health from the nature
of his duties may often be unavailable to answer urgent calls, and even if he were, he would not
have with him the doctor's "black bag" the contents of which are essential for effective treatment
of many medical emergencies.
Ophthalmic Optician Service
Since the beginning of March, a firm of Ophthalmic Opticians have been operating an eye
testing service for members of the staff.
A weekly session is held in the medical suite of the Guildhall Office Block.
This service is operated under the National Health Service, and examinations are free
although charges are made for the dispensing of prescriptions.
During the period March -December, 139 members of the staff had their eyes tested. 26 of
these had not previously had an eye test under the National Health Service, and 14 were found to
have visual defects which required correction and were supplied with spectacles.
113 had been examined previously and were already using spectacles. Of these 100 needed
further correction and appropriate lenses were fitted to existing frames or to new frames of the
patient's choice.
The fact that over 50% of the new examinees had visual defects which needed correction,
and over 88% of the examinees already wearing glasses needed further correction for their vision,
shows how valuable this form of occupational health service is both to members of the staff, and
to the Corporation because they would be liable for sick pay of members of the staff who had
gone sick through headaches and other conditions which can be caused by inadequate corrective
spectacles or no spectacles when they are needed.
Medical Examinations
During the year 226 persons were medically examined. The distribution by department and
the reason for medical examination is shown in Table 1.
184 persons were medically examined for admission to the superannuation scheme; 3 were
rejected as unfit and 3 were deferred. The clinical conditions causing rejection are shown in
Table 2. Of the 3 candidates deferred, 2 have been passed as fit, one having received dental
treatment, the other having been re-examined after serving a probationary period. The third
candidate who was deferred has yet to be re-examined.
29 persons were medically examined owing to prolonged absence on sick leave. At the time
of the examinations 14 were reported as fit for duty, 9 were still unfit for duty, and 6 were
reported as unfit for further service. The clinical conditions causing unfitness for further service
are shown in Table 3.
7 persons who had reached retiring age were medically examined and were reported as fit to
continue in the Corporation's service for a further 12 months.
3 persons were medically examined for temporary appointments, and 3 were examined to
verify the nature of a disability.
20 candidates for teaching and canteen posts were X-rayed and all were reported as showing
no abnormality of lungs.
The investigation of cases referred owing to sickness involves a considerable amount of
documentary research, correspondence and telephone calls, as well as physical examination, and
it is gratifying to note that the liaison between the medical staff of the Corporation and hospitals
and patients' doctors is all that can be desired.
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