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Ophthalmic Clinics
There are three ophthalmic clinics in the Borough, at which seven sessions are held each week.
Towards the end of 1969 Stuart Crescent Health Centre was opened, and the ophthalmic clinic sessions
for Wood Green children, which had been held temporarily at Lordship Lane Medical Centre, were transferred
to the new Health Centre.
Two full-time orthoptists work at the school ophthalmic clinics in conjunction with and under the direction of
the consultant ophthalmologists.
Dr. T.G. Kletz, consultant ophthalmologist to the Lordship Lane Clinic, Tottenham, reports as follows on
the year's work at the clinic:—
"The ophthalmic clinic at Lordship Lane, as in previous years, sees mainly children referred on account
of visual or ocular muscle defects. There are three ophthalmic sessions weekly, and a full-time orthoptist
is in attendance.
Continuation of the ethnic survey took place during the year, with the following results —
1. Children attending the clinic — 44.9% were native
— 55.1% were immigrant or of immigrant origin.
2. Of the children attending for the first time, the comparative figures are — 36% native; 64% immigrant.
The immigrant section consisted of — 47.9% West Indian
17.9% Cypriot
16.3% Irish
7.1% Indian
10.8% Others.
3. The figures for myopia were — Native — 24.5% of cases seen were myopic
West Indian — 47% of cases seen were myopic
Immigrants as a whole — 31.5% of cases seen were myopic.
4. The incidence of high myopia in young children was again almost totally in the West Indians, with 16
cases out of 54 myopes being over 10 dioptres and up to 18 dioptres. There were 2 cases amongst the
Cypriots and 1 case in the native children.
During the year an exceptionally high number of cases were referred as squints or strabismus, and of these
40 cases had neither squint nor refractive error needing correction. A further 10 cases were found to have
refractive errors but no squint. These were out of a total of 370 new cases referred for all reasons."
Mr. E.M.G. Galton, Consulting Ophthalmologist to the Stuart Crescent Clinic, retired in November 1970
and was replaced by Dr. A.Z. Abdeen who started sessions at Stuart Crescent in December 1970. Mr. Galton
has kindly furnished the following report on the work at the clinic during 1970:—
"Work at the new Clinic started at the beginning of 1970. It made an immediate appeal to both parents
and staff. A ttendances have increased considerably.
The new system in which the Orthoptist, Mrs. Conn, visits the schools to assist in sight-testing has had considerable
success. Infants with low degrees of squint have been detected and referred to the Clinic for treatment.
In the past these cases have tended to slip through the net with disastrous results to the vision in the affected
eye. Mrs. Conn has used the Sheridan-Gardiner vision test, which has been found to be quite accurate from
about 3 to 3% years. I feel this test and orthoptic screening should be more widely used."
Dr. Peswani, Consultant Ophthalmologist for the Weston Park Clinic, Hornsey, reports as follows:—
"The clinic was continued with 2 weekly sessions. During the year the attendances were as under:—
Under5 year Over 5 years Totals
Total Attendances 129 1159 1288
New Cases 61 380 441
Error of refraction
(including squints) 26 668 694 ,
There were 44 amongst the new cases who needed orthoptic investigations and treatment."
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