London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Willesden 1920
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Willesden]
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| Causes of Absence. | P.F.B. | P.F.G. | P.F.I. | F.R.S.M. | F.R.J.M. | F.R.I. | D.H.I. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. of attendances lost. | No. of attendances lost. | No. of attendances lost. | No. of attendances lost. | No. of attendances lost. | No. of attendances lost. | No. of attendances lost. | No. of attendances lost. | |
| Getting up late, Out with mother, no boots, minding baby, too late for mark | — | — | 536 | — | — | — | — | 536 |
| Too late for mark | — | 60 | — | — | — | — | — | 60 |
| Truant | — | — | — | — | — | — | 5 | 5 |
| Indifference of parents, neglect, etc. | 183 | 220 | 164 | — | — | — | 103 | 670 |
| Reason not recorded | 322 | 283 | — | 513 | 759 | 500 | 91 | 2,468 |
| Total | 1,100 | 1,793 | 1,146 | 2,197 | 869 | 2,881 | 1,061 | 11,047 |
| Grand Total of Attendances lost | 5,074 | 7,608 | 6,798 | 6,353 | 5,067 | 10,350 | 5,338 | 46,588 |
| Total No. of possible attendances | 56,918 | 54,799 | 44,688 | 68,197 | 62,625 | 65,172 | 54,355 | 406,754 |
| % of attendances lost from (1) | 6.4 | 9.2 | 12.0 | 4.9 | 6.3 | 10.6 | 7.6 | 8.0 |
| % „ „ „ (2) | 0.6 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.8 |
| % „ „ „ (3) | 1.9 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 3.2 | 1.4 | 4.4 | 1.9 | 2.7 |
| % of attendances lost from all causes | 8.9 | 13.9 | 15.2 | 9.3 | 8.1 | 15.9 | 9.8 | 11.5 |
Note.—The Medical Officer of Health is indebted to the Head Teachers of the Princess
Frederick Boys', Girls' and Infants, and Furness Road, Senior and Junior Mixed and
Infants, and Dudden Hill Infants Schools, for the figures given in this table.
Provision of Surgical Appliances to School Children.
The Board of Education, in a letter, dated 3rd September, 1920, sanctioned the provision
of Surgical appliances to School Children by Education Committee, under the following conditions:—
(a) Free, if family income is below the Education Committee's Economic Circumstances
Scale.
(b) On payment of full cost if the family income is above the Education Committee's
Economic Circumstances Scale.
(c) That treatment is recommended by the School Medical Officer.
(d) That the appliances are necessary in order to enable the child to attend or continue
to attend a Public Elementary School.
(e) That the Authority are satisfied that the parents are unable to defray the whole
or part of the cost.
(f) That the cost is reasonable.
(g) That a full account of the working of the arrangements, including the results of
the treatment in each case, be included in the School Medical Officer's Annual
Report.
(h) That particulars of all cases of an unusual nature or in which the expenditure is
heavy must be submitted to the Board of Education for previous approval.
School children are recommended for Surgical Instruments by (a) the Council's Surgeon at
the Municipal Hospital, (b) Special Schools Medical Officer, (c) Clinic Medical Officers, (d) Surgeons
of London Hospitals.
Investigation is made into the economic circumstances of the family, and if found to be below
scale, an estimate is obtained of the cost of the instrument, and if reasonable, an order is given and
the parent is requested to take the child to the surgical instrument makers to be measured for the
instrument. The instrument is passed by the Council's Surgeon, Hospital Surgeon or Special
Schools Medical Officer before being accepted.
Where the economic circumstances are above the scale the parent is informed that the Education
Committee are unable to supply the instrument, but if the parent agrees, the case is referred,
together with particulars of the instruments required, to the Invalid Children's Aid Association.