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73
of the London County Council Schools, who are required by
Article 111 of the School Management Code of the London
County Council " to forward, on the same day, the names and
" addresses of all children affected (whether suffering or excluded
" on account of the disease being in the home) to the Medical
" Officer of Health on S.M. Form 84."
Of the non-notifiable diseases, the most important is
Measles, and it is recognised by the Education Authority themselves,
that it is little use closing schools where outbreaks of
Measles occur, unless such closure of a school or part of a
school is enforced at the onset of the first cases. There is room
for considerable improvement in the system at present adopted
for notifying the Local Authorities. The present method is
briefly as follows:—
The London County Council Attendance Officer attends
every Friday at the schools and receives a list of absentees.
Where it is found that the absence of the children is due to an
infectious disease, no action is taken in reporting either to the
School Teachers or the Local Authority until the following
Friday. The. Attendance Officer then returns to the school for a
fresh list and reports to the Teachers the reason of absence of
the children whose names are upon the list he received the
previous Friday. They in turn notify on Form 84 to the Local
Authorities. Thus a week at least is often lost. There are
occasions when the Attendance Officer is deputed to other work,
which, I believe, is scheduling. During these periods apparently
no home visits are made or returns issued in regard to infectious
diseases.
The School Teachers themselves, I am sure, are not only
desirous but anxious to do all in their power to prevent the
spread of Measles, Whooping Cough and similar diseases, and
where they get direct information from parents they, with few