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EYE DISEASES, DEFECTIVE VISION AND SQUINT
Ophthalmic Specialists of the Regional Hospital Board attended weekly at
Central, Porters Avenue and Becontree Avenue Clinics. There is some delay in
providing treatment at Becontree Avenue Clinic owing to the large number of
patients in the catchment area of this Clinic. Efforts to obtain further
specialist sessions for this Clinic have not been successful.
Pupils known to have been treated
(a) External eye diseases and other (excluding errors
of refraction and squint) 25
(b) Errors of refraction (including squint) 910
(c) Number of pupils for whom spectacles were
prescribed 913

The large number of patients who do not attend for their appointments
86 - (and who do not inform us accordingly) give an unnecessary large amount of
extra work to all concerned. Ten parents defaulted on two appointments, and
were sent a "warning" letter of the costs incurred if they did not return the
equipment loaned to them for treatment. The response was satisfactory.
The results of treatment (using the buzzer) are satisfactory, and very
similar to results in previous years:-
% of total
Number cured 108 86
Number failed or poor result 15 14
This cure rate of 86% is reduced by about 10% in fact, as several cases
relapse within a few months.
The failures are virtually all due to one of two causes - the buzzer fails
to awaken the child, or the child awakes but is too frightened and unable to
co-operate. Invariably these failures occur in the six year old group (the
minimum age seen), and therefore there is sufficient reason to raise the minimum
age to receive buzzer treatment to seven years old.
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