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88
brooms. There is no insuperable difficulty about this, and one of
the jointless floors has already proved successful at Winterbourne
Road. I recommend that the Architect's attention be directed to
these points when the next school is required.
ORGANIZATION AND CO-ORDINATION OF SCHOOL AND
OTHER PUBLIC HEALTH WORK.—The Medical Officer oi Health
is School Medical Officer and early in the past year the Council
granted the additional assistance of one whole time assistant to the
Medical Officer (Dr. Sophie Jackson), and two additional health
visitors. Mr. Charles Wray, F.R.C.S., remains responsible for
ophthalmic work in the schools. An additional clerk was also
added to the staff of the Health Department. It should however be
clearly borne in mind that the whole of the public health staff is
available and has to a large extent been used for school work. It is
owing to this arrangement that we have been able to make fairly
rapid progress. Thus during the Christmas school vacation it was
found possible to have all the inspection cards analysed at the office
and returned to the schools when they re-assembled. This was
accomplished by concentrating the clerical staff on the task for the
first week in the new year and the statistical tables were thereby
prepared with dispatch and without interference with school routine.
The salient features of our local organization are familiar to
the Committee, but in compliance with instructions are once more
explained. The borough is divided into five school districts. Each
of these districts is in charge of a health visitor who spends, on the
average, one day per week in the schools, either in assisting the
medical inspector or in other ways. The rest of the health visitor's
time—as far as school work is concerned—is spent in investigating
illnesses among absentees, supervising the children respecting whom
the medical inspector has given special advice, and in assisting at
the* special examination of children at the Town Hall on Wednesday
and Saturday mornings. On two mornings per week one of the
health visitors assists in X-ray work.
Full use is also made of the other members of the public health
staff and special acknowledgment should be made for the assistance
rendered by the Borough Laboratory where specimens from doubtful
cases are examined. Theoretically 10 school sessions per week are
available for medical inspection but in practice it has been found
convenient to reserve Wednesday for examination of selected
children at the Town Hall and for other incidental work. The
actual inspection of the children in the schools has therefore to take
place on the remaining four days or in eight school sessions,