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REPORT ON THE SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
DURING THE YEAR 1953.
To the Chairman and Members of the Welfare and School
Attendance Sub-Committee.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report for the
year 1953.
The amount of dental inspection in schools during
the year showed an increase over that of 1952 but it is not
yet possible to say that the dental services are as systematic
as we would all like them to be. The fluctuation of the
staffing position and the task of treating dental caries
referred by schools, medical officers and parents, together
with emergency cases, has caused difficulty in the past
but routine dental inspections are increasing and there are
signs that we may look forward to a return to the pre-war
system of routine inspection followed by treatment. The
Murchison Avenue clinic is, at present, being enlarged to
provide an additional dental unit and a speech therapy
unit and in both these fields it is hoped that a full time
officer will be appointed in addition to the staff already
provided. It is, also, a fact that many parents are taking
their children to private dentists for treatment under the
National Health Service Act, 1946, as they are of course
entitled to do, but the figures quoted at the end of this
report do not include such cases.
It has, unfortunately, been found necessary, by the
Local Health Authority, to close the Sunlight Clinic at 315,
Broadway, Bexleyheath. This was done only after every
aspect of the efficacy of this form of treatment had been
considered. The beneficial action of sunlight, whether
natural or artificial, is to produce vitamin D in the skin and,
with the high level of child health and nutrition in the
Borough at the present time, and the almost total absence
of rickets, it is difficult to jusify the continuation of a clinic
the purpose of which might well be to produce a psychological
effect rather than a truly clinical benefit; that is, to
deal with a deficiency disease resulting from the absence
of an essential vitamin.
At the time of writing, an audiometric survey of all
school children in the 10 year old group has been completed.
Although a general analysis of our results has yet
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