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76
HENDON EDUCATION COMMITTEE.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SCHOOL MEDICAL
OFFICER FOR THE YEAR 1923.
To the Chairman and Members of the Hendon Education
Committee.
"Burroughs House,
Hendon, N.W. 4.
1st March, "1924.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the following report on the
work of the School Medical Service for 1923. I think it
may be regarded as a very satisfactory report. The health
of the school children in Hendon Urban District is undoubtedly
good. The number showing serious defects is
small. The number of cases of serious vermin infestation
is very small indeed and I think we may hope with some confidence
that even the lesser degree, which is still fairly common,
and shows itself by the presence of a comparatively
small number of nits in the hair, will, as a result of the process
of education which is going on and which the School
Medical Service is materially assisting, gradually diminish
almost to vanishing point.
The number of cases of infectious skin diseases also keeps
low which is another sign of increasing cleanliness and selfrespect.
Although the health record is good I do not think that we
have reached the stage at which we can say that no further
progress is possible or desirable. On the contrary I think we
should be encouraged to further efforts whereby I believe
that we can still further improve the standard of health. It
seems to me that there are two things to be specially remembered.
One is that though the proportion of children in Hendon
who require the good offices of the School Medical
Service is small as compared with many districts, the in-dividuals