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142
County Borough of Croydon
ANNUAL REPORT
of the
SCHOOL MEDICAL OFFICER
For the Year ending December 31st, 1948.
To the Chairman and Members of the Education Committee.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present for your consideration the 49th
Annual Report of the School Medical Officer. During the greater
part of the year under review, Dr. O. M. Holden was your School
Medical Offiecr and the work recorded was therefore carried out
mainly under his supervision.
There are no special points to which attention should be
drawn, except to comment on the effect of the coming into operation
of the National Health Service Act, 1946. The Education Act,
1944, makes it a duty of Education Authorities to "make such
arrangements for securing the provision of free medical treatment
for pupils as are necessary for securing that comprehensive
facilities for free medical treatment are available to them either
under this Act or otherwise."The other means were and are
intended to be the services available through the National Health
Service Act. Unfortunately, the immediate effects of this Act
on important parts of the School Health Service have been
entirely adverse. Thus the Dental Service has been disrupted
and long waiting periods introduced into the ophthalmic and
orthopaedic schemes. The children have lost their former
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