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77
the large numbers tested during the year. In fact, it should be
possible to deal with an even greater number of children without
increasing the number of sessions. Time is frequently wasted by
the non-attendance of patients. On some occasions more than half
those for whom appointments have been made at a session have
failed to keep them and it is very unusual to get a full attendance
at a session devoted to retinoscopy.
" This serious loss of time is sometimes caused by unavoidable
sudden illness of a child or parent and is to this extent impossible
to remedy. A commoner cause, however, is the difficulty found
by patients in coming to the Mattock Lane Centre from outlying
parts of the Borough and it is likely that the holding of sessions at
Greenford, to be commenced at Easter, 1934, will obviate this.
The wastage would be still further reduced if parents unwilling
or unable to bring their children at the time fixed would inform the
School Medical Officer of this in time for the vacancy to be given to
another child.
" The general balance of the figures is much the same as in
previous years. Hypermetropia and hypermetropic astigmatism
total 388 cases, as against 343 of myopia and myopic astigmatism.
The corresponding numbers for 1932 were 360 and 249, the apparent
relative increase of myopia and myopic astigmatism being due
to the fact that children suffering from these defects in a severe
or moderately severe form are tested every six months instead of
every year. It is important to remember, also, that slight degrees
of myopia produce greater disability than similar degrees of hypermetropia
and cause medical aid to be sought earlier, with the result
that though almost all the short-sighted children in the Borough
are under care, only a comparatively small proportion of the longsighted
ones are examined at the Centre. A small degree of hypermetropia
is normal in the child but in all probability there is a considerable
number of children in our schools who would benefit
by the correction of this defect but who are not brought in for
treatment by ordinary routine examinations.
" The treatment of myopic children is proceeding along the lines
I laid down in my last report, with results which, though less satisfying
than those of a " sight-saving class," well justify the trouble
taken by the teachers. In some schools, indeed the co-operation
and interest of the teachers has been obtained to such a degree