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Other Medical Inspections
The following are the numbers of special inspections and re-inspections carried out during 1966.
A special inspection is one which is carried out at the special request of a parent, doctor, nurse or
teacher, and is usually carried out at a school advice clinic.
Number of special inspections 3685
Number of re-inspections 1205
An analysis of the defects found at special inspections to require treatment or observation will be
found in the Appendix to this report.
Medical Treatment
In the Appendix to this report details are given of treatment (excluding uncleanliness and dental
defects) of pupils attending maintained primary and secondary schools (including nursery and special
schools), whether provided direct by the Council or arranged through other agencies.
School Advice Clinics
Defects which have been found at periodic medical inspections are further investigated at these
clinics to which children are also brought for the treatment of minor ailments, such as slight injuries,
certain common infections of the skin, and minor defects of the eye or ear. Parents are able to take
their children to these clinics for advice on any condition and much valuable educational and preventive
work is carried out at these sessions. ,
School Advice Clinics are held at 11 clinics in the Borough and during the school holidays, special
sessions are held to deal with particular defects, such as hearing and speech, in order to promote close
co-operation with Therapists and Technicians.
Vision Screening
During the year a Keystone apparatus was acquired for vision screening. It is hoped that the
introduction of this apparatus will permit the screening of larger numbers of school children, and that
operation of the machine by a trained technician will relieve pressure on the school nursing staff. We
are at present still in the experimental stage, but the eventual aim is the bi-annual, if not annual, vision
testing of all school children.
Ophthalmic Clinics
There are three school ophthalmic clinics held in the Borough, and T/ sessions are held each week.
At Lordship Lane Clinic, an orthoptist is employed who works nine sessions a week at the Clinic,
and in addition visits Vale Road School for Physically Handicapped Children one session a week.
Unfortunately it has proved impossible so far to acquire the services of an orthoptist at either
Weston Park or Stuart Villa Clinics. This deficiency has seriously hindered the work of the consultant
ophthalmologists, and it is to be hoped that the situation will be remedied as soon as possible.
Dr. T.G. Kletz, consulting ophthalmologist at Lordship Lane Clinic, reports:-
"The work in this clinic is concerned mainly with the investigation and correction ot refractive
errors, muscle imbalances and squints. All cases referred are first refracted, the majority under
cycloplegia and glasses prescribed as required. Cases of muscle imbalance and strabismus are then
referred to the orthoptist for investigation and any required treatment. Cases of unilateral amblyopia,
unless of pathological aetiology, are also referred for orthoptic investigation and occlusion carried out
if found necessary.
A further preliminary ethnic survey was carried out and confirmed the high incidence of myopia in
certain immigrant groups attending the clinic ana it is proposed to continue this investigation in the
coming year".
Mr. E.M.G. Galton, consulting ophthalmologist at Stuart Villa Clinic, reports:-
"During this year a new method for screening the vision of school children was introduced. This
is experimental and it will be some time before its efficacy can be established. The modern tendency
of not prescribing glasses for low refractive errors has been followed even more rigorous with no detriment
to the pupil's education.
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