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service in the past but who are unable to devote the whole of their
time to this work. A long-felt need has been filled by the institution
of this scheme, and the work has been highly appreciated. There
are many instances in which elderly persons without near relatives
would, had hospital accommodation been available, have been
transferred to an institution for the remainder of their lives. Not
only does the availability of domestic help relieve the hospital bed
situation, which is still acute, but it also allows aged persons to
spend their declining years in their own home surrounded by their
own possessions.
Recently the domestic help service has been supplemented by
the inauguration of a scheme for providing " Meals on Wheels."
The Dagenham branch of the Women's Voluntary Services has
undertaken to distribute meals which are obtained from one of the
British Restaurants ; such meals are limited to persons who have no
friends or relatives who are able to do their shopping or carry their
meals to their homes. As this service is becoming more widely
known, it is at the same time more sought after, and the date is not
far distant when the provision of a more comprehensive service will
need to be considered.
SCHOOL
HEALTH
SERVICE.
Gradually Dagenham as an excepted district
is being able to assume full local responsibility
for this service. In the early stages, owing
to lack of staff, the greater part of the
statistical side of this service remained with the County Authority.
Staff locally has been augmented, and it is probable that in the very
near future the whole of the clerical work entailed will be carried
out at the Civic Centre and the relative clinics.
One defect is the lack of dental surgeons, the establishment for
our school population having been fixed at nine dental surgeons
together with nine dental attendants. During a part of the year
we were able to obtain the full-time services of three dental officers
and three attendants; unfortunately one of these officers has
resigned, and owing to the grave shortage of dental surgeons, there
does not at the moment seem any prospect of being able to
approach the number required for this area. Ideally every child
should be dentally inspected on entry to school, the treatment
recommended carried out and the child should be re-inspected
annually during his school life. Were it possible to carry out this
scheme there would be lasting benefit, as not only would the mouths
of all be dentally sound, but the educational value of periodic
inspections would encourage those who had left school to seek
dental treatment throughout their lives.
I would say that Dagenham is not alone in this respect as the
deficiency prevails throughout the country. As the course of