London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
View report page
Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Croydon 1972
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
This page requires JavaScript
8
Last year showed an increase in the number of parents attending School
Medical Inspections particularly, strangely enough, in the School Leavers
Group. This pattern has not continued and the number of parents attending
has reverted to under 55% which is just above the average ofthe previous
five or six years.
Table 2. Attendance of Parents at School Medical Inspections
| 1972 | 1971 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys | Girls | Boys | Girls | |
| Entrants | 84.1% | 83.2% | 84.0% | 84.0% |
| Leavers | 5.5% | 6.2% | 9.3% | 10.9% |
| Others | 56.7% | 57.4% | 57.3% | 56.1% |
| Total Nos. of Children examined | 9,452 | 8,943 | 9,346 | 8,834 |
| Attendance of Parents (overall %) | 54.8% | 57.0% | ||
Total Defects T's and R's = 6,500
Total Defects O's = 6,074
No. of medical inspections at non-maintained schools = 28 (visits)
The total number of defects discovered appearing to need treatment has
remained much the same as in previous years but the number requiring observation
has decreased. This accounts for the fall in the number of re-inspections.
The number of visits made to non-maintained schools remains fairly static
as shown in Appendix C, Page 55.
Personal Hygiene
The problem of head infestation is still very much with us. There was an
increase of 7% in the number of pupils inspected in the course of the year.
This number has now risen to a figure almost equivalent to the total school
population, though the numbers may include the same infant and junior schools
several times in a year, while many secondary schools are not inspected
routinely.
The number of pupils found unclean for the first time was the highest
figure for many years and the number of pupils found unclean at follow-up
visits was also, regrettably, at a record level.
It appears to be true that in Croydon mainly infant and junior children
are involved and there was a large outbreak of infestation at an Infant and
Junior School which was still not under control at the end of the year. Head
Inspections at Secondary Schools, where siblings of the children at the infected
school might have been expected to attend, showed some cases of infestation
but on nothing like the scale at the Infant and Junior Schools.