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Vision Defects
These are the commonest defects found at medical inspections constituting
28% of the total, slightly up from the previous year. During most of the
year under review children living in the Mayday catchment area who appeared
to have refractive errors only were issued with a Form referring them to the
optician of their choice if they so desired, rather than to a hospital ophthalmologist.
This procedure was agreed as the waiting list for the Mayday Eye
Unit had become unacceptably long for simple refractive errors. It has been
very successful. Each child who accepted this method of referral has been
followed up after six months and the great majority had visited an optician.
Those who had not were again reminded to do so and where the original referral
form had been lost a further form was provided.
The end result has been that eye defects other than refractive errors are
seen very quickly at Mayday Eye Unit and the waiting list there for refraction
has been reduced to four months, which of course is still too long to be
satisfactory. The waiting time for our own Eye Clinics in the South of the
Borough remains at one to two months.
Defects of Ear, Nose and Throat
The incidence of middle ear disease (otitis media) remained static in the
year under review, and there was a slight decrease in other ear diseases and
in nose and throat conditions.
The work of the Audiology Clinic continues to increase as will be seen
in the detailed account in Part II of this Report. An increase of 6% in the
number of children sweep tested for hearing defect produced an increase of
13% in the number finally discovered to have hearing loss. Most of this increase
was made up of children with moderate hearing loss who will not
need special schooling, but whose educational performance should be improved
by ensuring that Head Teachers know of the defects and can ensure
that appropriate steps are taken in school to minimise their effects.