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(4) The Vaccination Officer. Appointed by the
(5) The Relieving Officer. j Board of Guardians.
(C) The Tuberculosis Nurse. Appointed by the
(7) The Midwives Inspector. County Council.
Amalgamation of Officers.—It will, therefore, be
noted that inspection of the public is constantly
increasing, and ought to be reduced where practicable by
the amalgamation of offices. It is eminently practicable to
do so in connection with the work of health visitors and
attendance officers, and this has, indeed, already been done
in certain areas, notably in Gloucestershire, Derbyshire and
Somerset with satisfactory results.
It would not, of course, be possible to interfere with the
existing appointments of school attendance officers, but
this process of unification should be begun by putting the
existing staff of school attendance officers on the staff of
the School Medical Officer, and filling vacancies in their
ranks as they occur by qualified health visitors.
Attending Attendance Committee Meetings.—At the
present time the attendance officers present cases of bad
attendance at these Committee meetings. During my period
of office here I have had the occasion to draw the attention
of the Education Committee to cases in which the Attendance
Committees ordered prosecution where on medical grounds
prosecution was not, in my opinion, justifiable. This has
occurred because the Attendance Committees have not had
full information at their disposal. I am, therefore, of
opinion that the Attendance Committees should be attended
by the whole-time assistant school medical officers whom
it is proposed to appoint. Under these circumstances cases
summoned before the Attendance Committees will have
passed through the consolidated school medical department
suggested in this report, and there will be no possibility of