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133
After repeated interviews and a somewhat protracted correspondence
on the matter, the Minister of Health finally indicated
in December that he was unable to sanction the arrangements
proposed by the Council unless he could be satisfied that the food
would be supplied under conditions which would ensure that it is
actually consumed by the women for whom it is prescribed.
NEW JOINT CLINIC PREMISES.
Leyton Green Road.
In February, 1929—as the result of inspection by one of the
Medical Officers of the Ministry of Health of the Council's arrangements
for Maternity and Child Welfare—the Minister of Health
drew the attention of the Council to the unsuitable accommodation
provided and requested that the possibility of obtaining the use of
more convenient premises, especially in the Harrow Green area,
might receive the Council's consideration.
In December, 1929—as the result of inspection of the Education
Authority's arrangements for school medical service by a
Medical Officer of the Board of Education—the Board addressed a
letter to the Authority in which it was stated that the existing
clinic premises were inadequate for the work to be done.
At that time, in my capacity as School Medical Officer, I
submitted to the Education Authority the following observations:—
Since its inception in 1907, the School Medical Service has shown its
tendency to develop along the lines of a healthy living organism by exhibiting
marked growth and expansion, often in directions which could not
have been foreseen accurately. Requirements have been met spasmodically
as they have arisen; systems have been devised piecemeal; arrangements
have often been necessarily of a makeshift nature. The school
clinic, which just over twenty years ago was intended exclusively as a
centre for the treatment of certain physical defects, has undergone sweeping
changes and acquired complex functions undreamed of at the time of its
inception. Unfortunately the accommodation, staffing and equipment
adequate for such functions have not increased pari passu with the
development of the service.
In considering the question of future accommodation, staffing and
equipment the Local Education Authority should not lose sight of the fact
that it has a deep concern in the care of infancy and the prevention of
disease in the pre-school child. Every effort should therefore be made to
bring infant welfare work into closer relationship with the activities of the
school medical service.