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At the actual close of the year one session per
week was being held, alternating between Central and Woodward
Clinics, but it is anticipated that if the drift back of
children from the Reception Areas continues it will be
necessary to increase the number of sessions. This is almost
certain to be the case as it is anticipated that some school
medical inspection will be commenced early in 1940, with a
corresponding increase in the number of cases referred for
visual defects and external eye disease.
Squint training - using a synoptophore - was
temporarily discontinued until the 8th December 1939, since
when five sessions have been held up to the end of 1939.
Contact has been established with the Reception Areas,
with the result that children who are refracted in the
Reception Areas can, if the parents so wish, obtain their
glasses from Barking, at special contract prices or, in
necessitous cases, free of charge. This is found to be a
convenience to all concerned as most often, in rural areas,
the provision of a pair of spectacles necessitates correspondence
with a contractor in a relatively distant town or, in
fact, a visit to the contractor's premises.
On account of the need for economy, the usual Report
of your Specialist Consultant has been omitted this yeari
(c) Ear. Nose & Throat Service. Before the war the
Council's Consultant Ear, Nose & Throat Surgeon (Mr.C.
Ratcliffe Sandiford, F.R.C.S.) attended at the Woodward
Clinic for two sessions per week.
This service was temporarily discontinued until the
8th December 1939, when Ear, Nose & Throat Clinics were
recommenced, one session per week being held until the close
of the year.
The arrangements for the admission of cases to the
Queen Mary's Hospital, Stratford, and the St. Mary's Hospital,
Plaistow, under the Authority's approved scheme, were
naturally interrupted by the war, but were resumed in
December 1939, when ten cases were operated upon at these
Hospitals.
With regard to the operative treatment of enlarged
tonsils and adenoids, in April 1939 the Board of Education
approved the Authority's scheme for operative treatment to be
carried out at the Barking Hospital in Upney Lane.
Under this scheme it was proposed to set aside a
Ward at the Barking Hospital, during the summer months, and
the operative treatment would have been undertaken by
Mr. Sandiford, your Consultant Ear, Nose & Throat Surgeon.
The chief advantages of the scheme were that journeys by
ambulance would be obviated and the children could be
admitted to Hospital prior to the operation taking place, and
so allow them to become settled down, and it would also be
possible for them to be kept in the Hospital after the
operation.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to operate this
scheme prior to the outbreak of the war and since then, of
course, the Barking Hospital has become an important unit in
the Ministry of Health's Emergency Hospital Scheme. I am
still hopeful, however, that arrangements may shortly be made
for this work to commence at the Barking Hospital, even if on
a restricted basis, unless the exigencies of war make it
absolutely impossible.
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