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INSPECTIONS FOR CLEANLINESS
Under Section 54 of the Education Act, 1944, a local education authority may
authorise a medical officer to cause examinations of the persons and clothing of
pupils at schools to be made whenever in his opinion such examinations are necessary
in the interests of cleanliness, and to take appropriate action to secure the
cleansing of the person and clothing of pupils. School nurses make head inspections
of children, mainly to discover verminous head conditions. There are certain
families which are kept under constant observation because of repeated infestations.
Of the 80,784 children examined for infestation, 162 were found to be in a
verminous condition and 64 required formal action in order to secure cleanliness.
(See Statistical Table 49.)
MEDICAL TREATMENT
Under Section 48 of the Education Act, 1944, it is the duty of every local
education authority to make such arrangements for securing the provision of free
medical treatment for pupils for whom primary, secondary or further education is
provided by them at any school or county college or any other educational establishment
maintained by them as are necessary for securing that comprehensive
facilities for free medical treatment are available to them either under the Education
Act, 1944, or otherwise.
Minor Ailments Clinics
Defects found at routine or special medical inspections, which only require
minor treatment or observation, are referred to the minor ailments clinics. Children
with minor ailments and slight injuries are also referred by parents and teachers
for treatment or observation, and advice is given for a wide variety of conditions.
The total attendance for the year was 20,904, an increase of almost 30% on the
previous year.
At the beginning of 1966 three automatic enuresis alarm devices — buzzer
apparatus for the treatment of enuresis — were already in use; seven children were
on the waiting list, to which 93 names were added during the year. Nine additional
alarms were purchased. The progress of each case is checked every two months
and also six months after a reported cure.
During the year 33 children were issued with the alarms with the following
results in 22 completed trials.
No success was reported in six cases; there was no co-operation in four cases;
a complete cure within periods ranging from three to four weeks was reported in
11 cases; and one alarm was returned after eight weeks, it having transpired that
the boy had refused to use it but had been completely dry while it was in the
house.
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