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best interests of the School Health Service at heart, on the
grounds that it is not the best or most economical means cf
supervising the health of the schoolchildren. Indeed, under
Regulation 10(l)a of the School Health Service and Handicapped
Pupils Regulations, 1953, the Minister may approve
arrangements which do not provide for as many as three
general medical inspections during the period of compulsory
school age. This provision has been included to enable authorities,
who wish to do so, to experiment with other arrangements
not based on periodic medical inspection. Our own
experience continues to be that the periodic medical inspection
not only reveals a large number of defects not previously
ascertained, but provides, also, a most valuable link with
parents and teachers by means of which the physical, mental
and emotional needs of the child can be reviewed at regular
intervals during his school life. In regard to emotional
defects a question raised at periodic medical inspection is
often followed up at a consultative clinic when the medical
officer can give more detailed attention to the problems
involved. It is felt that these periodic " health audits " of
the child should remain the spearhead of the School Health
Service. They have undergone a re-orientation in recent
years to meet the changing psychological needs of the child
and the parents in a complex society in which the welfare
state, a high standard of living, technological advances generally
and an altered scale of priorities and values, have
brought new problems of adjustment.
The School Dental Service reached a greater stability
than in previous years by the appointment of a further wholetime
dental officer. This has meant that more attention has
been possible during the year to preventive dentistry,
although much remains to be done in this respect. We are
still not in sight of the ideal expressed in the School Health
Service and Handicapped Pupils Regulations, 1953, that
"the objective should be to inspect the teeth of every pupil
at least once a year—preferably more frequently and to
offer treatment to such children as are found to need it."
Certain procedures have now become a matter of
routine in the School Health Service in this area. These
include poliomyelitis vaccination, B.C.G. inoculation and
pure tone audiometry, the latter being applied as an individual
hearing test to all schoolchildren as soon as possible
after their seventh birthday.
Extension of the clinic premises at 315, Broadway and
the new dental unit installed at the Little Danson Clinic are
both contributing to an increased efficiency of the service in
general.
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