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27
SCHOOL EYE CLINIC, PURLEY
In February 1965 the Education Committee resolved to provide
a School Eye Clinic in Purley for an experimental period of one
year. A similar clinic had been provided previously by the
Surrey County Council although no sessions were held for some
months prior to March 31st owing to the sudden death of Dr. L.J.
Green. In the light of experience obtained since the 2nd April
when the Clinic re-opened, the Education Committee have now
agreed to establish it as a permanent part of the treatment
facilities of the School, Health Service. I am grateful to
Dr. Derek Clarke for the following report.
"Although the waiting list for examination and re-examination
had become inflated, a substantial amelioration has now been
achieved and the waiting time between referral and examination
is now reasonable. Schoolchildren are referred to the Clinic by
school medical officers, local authority staff and family
doctors. Children to be treated by spectacles (including
occlusion) and those who require advice or review are kept on
the books of the Clinic. Children who need other forms of treatment
are referred to their own Doctor or to the Croydon Eye Unit
or elsewhere as indicated. Some cases needing the help of the
Orthoptist only are shared between the Purley Eye Clinic and the
Orthoptist at the Croydon Eye Unit. Dr. Dunnet, one of the school
medical officers, has been seeing and treating unselected cases
and keeps a close liaison with me over their treatment and
disposal.
The equipment at the Purley Eye Clinic has been brought up
to the standard which I have recommended (notably by the addition
of symbol-test-cubes for visual acuity) and is now entirely
satisfactory as is the accommodation. The symbol-test-cubes have
enabled vision testing to be done on children of three years and
they are particularly useful for the "late reader" schoolchild
of 5 or 6 years or for the very nervous. The referrals from
routine medical inspections at school have been notable for the
high accuracy of visual acuity testing. Many cases have been
detected of refractive errors causing sub-standard visual acuity,
several of amblyopia due to squint, several of squint without
amblyopia and one of severe ocular disease (congenitally dislocated
lenses) as well as a variety of minor afflictions such
as inflamation of the eyelids (blepharitis). The work of the
clinic is to be regarded as doubly worthwhile since it not only
provides diagnosis and treatment of the children as patients but
also ensures a satisfactory standard of visual acuity for school
purposes and may thereby avoid educational retardation.
The staff of the Purley Eye Clinic have been exemplary in
efficiency and courtesy."