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REPORT ON THE SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
DURING THE YEAR 1954.
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 1954.
It may fairly be said that the general health of the
schoolchildren in the Borough during the year under review
has been satisfactory. Standards of nutrition and general
care and cleanliness are of a high order. Apart from a small
number of schoolchildren with recurrent minor infestations,
cleanliness surveys are serving only to point out these exceptions
to the general rule.
The staffing position in the School Dental Service has
shown little change during the past four years during which
we have averaged the equivalent of one and eight elevenths of
dental surgeons' time. The amount of dental inspections has
shown a progressive increase, however, and the number of
dental inspections in 1954 was 6,783 as compared with 4,754
in 1953. There has, also, been a marked increase in the
amount of treatment provided and some progress has been
made towards a return to the pre-war system of systematic
routine inspection and treatment. The appointment of
another whole time dental surgeon would probably complete
this process and it is hoped that this may be possible
in the not too distant future. A modern dental unit is now
in readiness at the Murchison Avenue Clinic and could
come into operation as soon as the necessary staff can be
recruited. The objective is, of course, to inspect the teeth
of every pupil at least once a year and to offer prompt
treatment to such children as are found to need it. The
extension of the Murchison Avenue Clinic includes, also, a
Speech Therapy Unit which is now staffed by the equivalent
of a whole time Speech Therapist and the waiting list for
treatment has been reduced very considerably.
During the year an audiometric survey of 10 year old
schoolchildren in the Borough was completed and an analy-
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