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7
PART I. MEDICAL INSPECTION IN SCHOOLS
The Medical inspection of school children at fixed intervals during
their school lives has been an integral part of the development of the
School Health Service, and the following system of routine medical inspection
has been adopted in all maintained schools within the Borough
and in other schools which have requested it.
(i) Entrants
Children admitted for the first time to school and not already
examined as Entrants, i.e. normally between 5 years and 6
years.
(ii) 8 Year Old Group
Children in their second year in a Junior School, unless previously
examined in the Junior School.
(iii) Entrants to Secondary School
Children in their first year in a Secondary School.
(iv) Final Leavers
Children in their last year of attendance at school who have
not been medically examined in that year.
(v) Special Cases
Children of any age whom the Head Teacher and parents wish
the Medical Officer to see at his next visit.
No change in the existing programme of routine medical inspection was
considered during the year in view of the findings of research projects described
in earlier reports. Nevertheless, the whole subject was again
critically reviewed in the light of current financial difficulties and the need
for economy. During the last three years there has been a small but significant
decline in the number of defects found in proportion to the number of
medical inspections. This is welcome evidence that the health of Croydon
school children is improving but, as fewer children with defects are found,
so the assertion that every child should have a comprehensive medical
examination becomes more difficult to justify. The examination of large
numbers of defect free children raises problems for staff since, paradoxically,
it increases the risk that when a defect is present, it will be overlooked.
Experiments elsewhere with selective medical examinations, have
concentrated upon selecting particular children for inspection to the exclusion
of others. Significant objections to such schemes have emerged,
but a more selective examination based on the individual needs of every
child seems more likely to concentrate effort where it is most needed
without denying to large numbers of children the undoubted advantages of
a routine medical inspection.