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SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
The London Borough of Haringey took over the School Health Services of the former Middlesex County
Council on the 1st April 1965. Under theCounty Council'sdirection and since the National Health Service
Act of 1946 there has been an agreement between the Education and Health Departments for the integration of
the School Health Service with the former Council's health services so that the best use could be made of
medical, dental, nursing and other staff as we 11 as clinic premises and the day-to-day services were managed
bythe AreaHealth Department from the off ices in Somerset Road. The London Borough of Haringey moved
the school health, environmental, personal health and mental health services into office accommodation at
Tottenham Town Hal I. The re-organisation of the service and the change of office accommodation was a
complex manoeuvre, but after an initial period of disturbance the advantages of the re-organisation are
becoming apparent and there is good contact between the officers of these departments and the Education
Department, which should lead to further progress.
Tottenham had a long association with advances in the School Health Service, and as a result
Haringey has the good fortune to inherit from Middlesex two special schools - theBlancheNevile School
for the Deaf and the Vale Road School for Physically Handicapped Children - both of which are situated
in the Borough. The new London Borough is fortunate, too, in inheriting from Middlesex the "Suntrap"
Residential School for delicate children at Hayling Island, a school which had been associated with the
Borough of Tottenham before it was transferred to Middlesex in 1945.
The past year's work in the School Health Service has been one of amalgamation and consolidation
of services in the new environment, and the progress made and the statistical record of the year's work
are described in the body of the report. I am grateful for the support and tolerance of the members of
the Committees concerned during this difficult period and I am grateful, too, for the enthusiasm and
interest of the staff and especially to Dr. Mary C. Douglas, the Principal Medical Officer for the School
Health Services, for the part they have played during the difficult first year.
J.L. PATTON,
Principal School Medical Officer.
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