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REPORT OF THE CHIEF DENTAL OFFICER
Staff
There was one addition to the full-time staff during the year and
this brought the full-time equivalent to 5.6, an improvement on the
previous year. With an increasing school population, the number
of school children per dental officer is now over 8,000, a figure
which compares unfavourably with the Metropolitan regional
average.
This low staffing ratio has meant that inspections at school
have risen by only a small amount during the year to 16,881 from
16.086 in 1970. If those children inspected for the first time at a
clinic are included the number rises to 20,790 given a first
inspection during the year.

Owing to the shortage of staff, no inspections were carried out in
schools served by the Harold Hill or Romford clinic and not until
the very end of the year was an inspection possible in the Collier
Row catchment area. In the first two areas no regular programme
of inspections has ever been possible.
During the year the Borough received an official visit from
Mr. C. Howard, one of the dental staff of the Department of Health
and Social Security and of Education and Science. In the official
letter which followed this visit, mention was made of the fact
that the overall staffingsituation remained well below the national
average and even more substantially below the regional average.
In an effort to reverse this trend and stimulate recruitment,
proposals were made for introducing a graded staff structure with
the creation of senior posts carrying additional responsibilities.
The report incorporating these proposals received approval by
the appropriate Committee before the end of the year for implementation
at the commencement of the next financial year.
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