London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Finchley 1936
[Report of the School Medical Officer for Finchley]
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The Board's classification of the nutrition of the children submitted to routine examination was used through
out the year and the following summary of the results clearly shows that very little malnutrition exists.
| No. of children inspected | A (Excellent) | B (Normal) | C (Slightly sub-normal) | D (Bad) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1727 | 254 | 14.71 | 1329 | 76.95 | 143 | 8.28 | 1 | 0.06 |
(b) Uncleanliness.
Every effort is made to keep the standard of cleanliness
as high as possible and it is now very rarely that one sees a
child with vermin in its head. All children are examined by
the School Nurses as soon as possible after the commencement
of each term and the unsatisfactory ones are reviewed
at frequent intervals. All new admissions are examined at
the earliest possible moment. Every case of uncleanliness
however slight is recorded. Until a very few years ago one
frequently came across children whose bodies were covered
with flea bites, but now such cases are never seen.
The nurses paid an average of 64 visits to each school
for uncleanliness inspections during the year; 16,730 inspections
were made and 280 individual children were found
not to comply with the rigid standard which is enforced.
At routine medical inspection the heads of 64 or 3.71%
of the children were found not to be entirely satisfactory
while 3 or 0.17% had dirty bodies.
(c) Minor Ailments and Skin Diseases.
Few cases of minor ailments are found at routine inspection
as these are sent to the school clinics by parents,
teachers, and school nurses as soon as they are discovered.
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