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Once again I must repeat my plea for the appointment of a dispensing optician to be
present at our sessions. Apart from the obvious advantages in saving our patients time
and trouble, it would in no way interfere with the free choice of optician for the patient.
I think it speaks for the popularity of the school clinics and welfare clinics that the
number of out patients has remained fairly steady."
Dr. MacFarlane reports as follows:—"During 1961 a total of 753 cases were seen
at the clinic on Friday mornings, of which 129 were new cases. Amongst these patients,
the largest number were hypermetropes, with or without astigmatism, and with or without
associated squint. Refractions and retests form the bulk of the work, but sometimes
pathological conditions are met with. When glasses are prescribed the prescription can
be taken to any optician, and this sometimes leads to the patient being lost to the clinic,
the optician subsequently taking over the care of the patient. I would plead yet again
for the presence of a dispensing optician at the clinic as being most desirable, and this view
is shared by the Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon at Oldchurch Hospital.
The clinics are reasonably well attended, but there are always some absentees who
have failed to write or telephone that they are not coming. This is particularly the
case during the school holidays, when apparently some parents imagine that the clinic
does not function. In fact, there is a clinic every week of the year, and parents ought
to take advantage of it particularly during holiday time, so that the children do not miss
school even for part of a morning.
Again I would like to mention the invaluable work of the school nurses, who follow
up the non-attenders, find untreated children in school with poor vision and bring them
along, and visit the parents to explain.
By the end of the year, the situation was such that new cases could be seen within
2 weeks of referral, and the retests of old cases were up to date."
Audiometric Tests
Eighteen children have been tested with the audiogram. One was referred to
hospital, seventeen are being kept under observation.
Child Guidance
A total of 92 children from Dagenham were seen at the Romford Child Guidance
Clinic, there is still a waiting list of 42 children.
Other Specialist Clinics
School medical officers refer children to hospital consultants for opinion or for
treatment at specialist clinics; 204 children were so referred during the year as follows:—
58