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(c) The early ascertainment of crippling defects is effected
through routine medical inspection at the schools; through the
examination of children at a special clinic for the physically defective,
held at the Town Hall; through information received from
health visitors, school attendance officers and local voluntary
associations; through child welfare, centres; and through the
tuberculosis dispensary.
The revision of the register of physically defective children
was in progress at the end of the year.
FINDINGS OF MEDICAL INSPECTION.
Details of the defects found during medical inspection are
set out in Table 11a and 11b, at end of this report.
Out of the 7,228 children examined as routine cases, 980,
or 13.5 per cent., required treatment for conditions other than
uncleanliness and dental diseases.
(a) Uncleanliness.
Routine medical inspection does not afford a good measure
of the prevalence of unclean conditions, as the children are commonly
made spruce for the occasion. The surveys made by the
school nurses give a better guide, though these may give
rather too gloomy a picture owing to the likelihood of concentration
on the less satisfactory schools.
The school nurses during the course of their school surveys
for uncleanliness made 27,733 inspections of children, and found
body vermin in 12 cases, head vermin in 579, and nits alone in
2,776. Thus, on the basis of these inspections, 12 per cent. of the
children seen showed evidence of infestation.
(b) Malnutrition.
59 children were found during routine inspection to need
treatment for malnutrition, and 10 were referred for observation.
Thus, out of the 7,228 children examined as routine cases, approximately
1 per cent. showed evidence of malnutrition.
Particulars are given in a subsequent paragraph as to the
provision of meals at suitable premises, and of milk at school in
connection with a number of these cases of malnutrition.
(c) Defective Vision and External Eye Disease.
317 children, or 4.4 per cent. of those seen during routine
inspection, were found to show defective eyesight requiring treatment.
In addition, 25 children, seen as routine cases, were found to
be suffering from squint, and 36 (0.5 per cent.) had external eye
disease requiring treatment. In a proportion of them, the condition
was due to eye strain resulting from defective vision, and
would be removed by remedy of the latter condition.