London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Haringey 1971

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Haringey]

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LIST OF SCHOOL HEALTH CLINICS AS AT 31 DECEMBER 1971
a — School Advice e — Orthopaedic j — Audiology Unit
b — Dental f — Physiotherapy k — Child Guidance
c — Ophthalmic g — Cerebral Palsy Unit I — Chiropody
d — Orthoptic h — Speech
a All Saints' Church Hall, 11 Church Road N6
j Blanche Nevile School for the Deaf, Philip Lane N15
abh Burgoyne Road Clinic, 58 Burgoyne Road N4
b Chestnuts Clinic, 268 St. Ann's Road N15
k Child Guidance Centre, Tetherdown N10
abh School Clinic, 128 Cornwall Road N15
abh Medical Centre, 150 Fortis Green N10
ah Gordon Road Clinic, 1a Gordon Road N11
b Dental Clinic, 334 High Road N15
abcdefhkl Medical Centre, 239 Lordship Lane N17
abh Medical Centre, 131 Park Lane N17
a Somerset Road Clinic, 370 High Road N17
abcdh Health Centre, 8 Stuart Crescent N22
abcdfhl Medical Centre, rear of Hornsey Town Hall, 23a Weston Park N8
dfgh The Vale School for Physically Handicapped Children N4
h The Moselle School for Educationally Subnormal Children, The Green N15
fh The William C. Harvey School for Educationally Subnormal Children, Adams Road N17
SCHOOL DENTAL SERVICE
Mr. G.C.H. Kramer, Principal School Dental Officer, reports as follows:—
"Change and decay in all around / see" (Hymn "Abide with Me")
Inspection and Treatment
"The continuing increase in the number of children in our schools is imposing problems which can not be resolved
while the number of dental officers in our service remains no higher than in the past.
The total of pupils on the school rolls at 39,887 is greater by 1,823 than at the corresponding time a year ago, and
as compared with the report for the year 1965 the total has risen by 6,731, which is an increase of no
less than 20.3%
Even in the early years of the life of the Borough the need and demand for dental treatment was far in excess of
our resources, and the relentless increase during the intervening years has made the situation ever more difficult.
Recruitment of dental officers is commented upon more fully in the appropriate section later.
The number of sessions devoted to inspections in the schools was 142, a decrease of 43 from the previous year,
during which 12,787 children were inspected for the first time in the year, while a further 4,396 were first
inspected in the clinics. The total of 17,183 individual children inspected was only 43.1% of the school population
and was by far the lowest proportion we have ever been able to see, yet because of the very great amount of
treatment found to be necessary by reason of the low standard of dental health, this resulted in a demand for
treatment fully sufficient to occupy all the available time of our dental officers. It would be totally unrealistic to
achieve a higher and more satisfactory percentage of inspections by creating a demand which we were quite unable
to meet.
A further 2,536 children were re-inspected during the year and, of the total of first and re-inspections numbering
altogether 19,719, treatment was required for 12,067 or 61.2%.
Treatment sessions totalled 4,024, which was 123 more than in the previous year, and of these 748 were for our
orthodontic service. Despite the increased number of sessions there was some reduction in conservative treatment
carried out, reflecting the very time-consuming nature of this work when every reasonable effort is made to avoid
removing teeth: but still there was an increase in the numbers of both temporary and permanent teeth extracted.
This most unwelcome trend was largely attributable to the many patients for whom multiple extractions were
unavoidable after gross decay had rendered many teeth beyond possibility of saving by any method.
Staffing
The staffing position, recorded as always on the last day of the calendar year under review, remained almost
unchanged numerically compared with the previous year: the full-time equivalent of 1.7 Orthodontists was the
same, while the full-time equivalent of dental officers at 7.7 was an increase of 0.3, but figures similar to those for
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