View report page

44
New Patients.
62 (Receiving regular treatment).
30 (Attending irregularly for advice re home treatment).
Discharges.
72
School Visits.
37 Schools visited.
General.
Looking at 1948 in retrospect two salient features stand out;
the struggle to reduce a long waiting list and, consequently, the
need to pass children through the therapist's hands as quickly
as was consonant with adequate treatment.
The outcome may be regarded as fairly successful. The
waiting list is down to under 30 cases waiting regular treatment
from approximately 150 at the beginning of the year, and the
quicker flow of cases in and out of the clinics is due to a reduction
of group work and concentration upon individual treatment.
(Group work is a valuable part of treatment, particularly with
maladjusted children, but it should always be supported by
individual treatment. The therapist, therefore, hopes to reinstate
it again, if only at irregular intervals, for those who need it most).
The work of Miss Lane, the part-time Speech Therapist,
during the year was valuable in relieving the congestion at two
busy centres, Mattock Lane and Cherington House. This made
it possible for the full-time Therapist to use more of her time
at these centres for interviews with parents who were working
at home with their children.
DENTAL INSPECTION AND TREATMENT
Dental inspections were carried out at all schools during the
year. Unfortunately the treatment for the children selected was
not completed; this fact being accounted for partly by the increase
in the amount of work required for each child and partly by the
fact that it was not possible to put into operation the proposals
for new dental clinics in the South Ealing and West Twyford areas.
The treatment carried out was, as usual, fillings, extractions,
orthodontic treatment, other operations, and certain specialist
work. This work was carried out by three full-time Dental
Officers at five Health Clinics situated in various parts of the
Borough.
The dental inspections were carried out in the schools, and a
certain number of special examinations were also carried out at the
clinics.