View report page

59
Health Services Clinics. These Specialist Clinics comprise ophthalmic,
orthopædic, orthoptic and ear, nose and throat sessions.
In addition to the routine medical inspections, nursing staff visit the
schools each year to carry out hygiene inspections, vision tests and heights
and weights, and defects noticed at these inspections are referred to the
Medical Officer at the Minor Ailment Clinic.
Parents, teachers and general practitioners all co'operate in bringing
defects to the notice of the medical and nursing staff of the School
Health Service. It is interesting to note that with almost an identical
school population the attendances at the Minor Ailment Clinics in the
years 1936 to 1956 reduced from 13,937 in 1936 to 4,956 in 1956. This
is due to several factors chief of which are the availability of free medical
treatment by the family doctor since the introduction of the National
Health Service Act of 1946 and to the better health of the school child.
It is a gratifying trend as the minor ailment clinic can now become more
and more a consultative clinic which entails more time spent on each
child. This is very necessary as the problems differ greatly from those
of 20 years ago and are more time consuming.
To obtain the maximum benefit to the child it is essential that there
should be complete co-operation betwen the teaching and the medical
and nursing staff, and it is of great value if the staff of the Health
Service have full access to see the child in the school environment and
given an opportunity to discuss the child's emotional and physical
problems with the class teacher. No unnecessary visits are made to
schools and I feel that, if the members of the teaching staff fully
appreciated that the child can only take full advantage of the educational
facilities if he or she is physically fit, the visits of the medical and
nursing staff would be welcomed more than they sometimes appear to
be, especially so, now that there is an endeavour to carry out the
education of more handicapped children in the ordinary schools.
The School Health Service has become a well established integral
part of the educational system assisting the teachers in their tasks and
duties towards each child thus enabling them to obtain within their
capacity the maximum benefit from education.
Routine Medical Inspection.
Routine Medical Inspection has been carried out in all schools in the
Division, and the findings of the inspection remain about the average.
The examinations in the 10-12 plus year age-group have increased from
2,173 in 1955 to 3,321 in 1956. This is due to the high birth rate and the
change in the year of examination from 11 plus to 10 plus. The others
shown in the statistics refer to children in the Junior Occupational Centre
at Capworth Street. This has now been transferred to Wanstead.
Uncleanliness and Verminous Conditions.
Of the 25,163 hygiene examinations carried out in schools only 79
children were found to be unclean, i.e. a percentage of 0.31. This
compares favourably with 1955 when the percentage of children found
to be unclean was 0.67.
Medical Treatment.
The number of attendances at the Minor Ailment Clinic was more
than double that of 1955 although the number of children attending was