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REPORT ON THE SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
DURING THE YEAR 1952.
To the Chairman and Members of the Welfare and School
Attendance Sub-Committee.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1 have the honour to present my Annual Report for the
year 1952.
Although the amount of dental inspection in schools
increased during the year under review, and the amount of
treatment given was considerable, it is still not possible to
say that there has been a return to the systematic supervision
of the dental health of the children which existed prior to
the last war. Staff shortages continue but there is a tendency,
at the present time, for dental surgeons to return from private
practice to the local authority services and it is hoped that
this will make possible, in the not too distant future, a return
to pre-war conditions. In any case, a further whole-time
dental surgeon is needed in the School Health Service. If,
as also seems possible, the scheme to provide an additional
dental unit at the Murchison Avenue Clinic comes to fruition,
the ground would be prepared for such an appointment.
The time is certainly ripe for the School Dental Service in
the Borough to be overhauled and expanded to provide a
service which is more truly conservatory than is possible at
present.
The ear, nose and throat treatment which is now
provided for school children at the West Hill Hospital,
Dartford, has proved to be adequate to the needs of the
children, both in regard to new appointments and for the
purposes of " follow up " treatment. Plans are being made
at present for the carrying out of an audiometric survey of
the 10-year old age group of school children in the near
future, as there are, no doubt, many children who cannot
benefit to the full extent from tuition because of minor
degrees of hearing defect which could be remedied by simple
treatment.
A present-day feature of the School Health Service is
the increasing number of children who are referred to the
Child Guidance Clinic for behaviour disorders. Durins the
year, 47 children were so referred and there were, in addition,
many children who were examined by the Assistant Medical
Officers for lesser degrees of personality defects. There is
a shortage of places in schools for maladjusted children and,
although the number of cases requiring admission in the
Borough is small, the problems which they raise are of an
extremely urgent nature. Only too often, the causes of the
defect are to be found in the home invironment of the child.
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