London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Croydon 1938
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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269
FOLLOWING UP.
There axe 24 Health Visitors, who devote 5/11ths of their time
to school work. During the year 2 additional Health Visitors were
appointed. In addition, there are two masseuses, one of whom
devotes all her time to school work, and the other half her time, the
other half being occupied with Maternity and Child Welfare.
There are five whole-time dental assistants.
The nurses assist at routine and special medical inspections in
the schools and pay periodical visits to schools for cleanliness surveys
and to investigate outbreaks of infectious disease. With the helpful
co-operation of the Chief Enquiry Officer and his staff, persistent
offenders against cleanliness have been preceded against in Court,
others have been brought before the Committee and warned. One
case of persistent uncleanliness was taken to Court after all per
suasive efforts had failed to bring about improvement.
School Visits.
The following Table summarises the visits paid, etc., in connection with these duties:—
| Visits to Schools re Cleanliness | 49 |
| Total Visits to School Departments re Cleanliness | 464 |
| Number of children inspected for cleanliness (first inspection) | 59,758 |
| Number of children inspected (subsequent inspections) | 2,477 |
| Number of children found unclean (first inspection) | 1,682 (2,054 occasions of infestation) tation) |
| Number of occasions in which children found unclean (subsequent inspections) | 1,123 |
In addition, 1,468 "other visits" to schools were made.
Home Visits.
| Concerning defects found at routine medical inspections | 1,180 |
| Subsequent visits re defects found at routine medical inspections | 615 |
| Visits re special cases | 1,553 |
| Visits to dental cases | 93 |
| Visits in connection with infectious cases and other visits (including 116 visits concerning uncleanliness) | 14,960 |