London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Willesden 1932

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Willesden]

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Crippling Defects and Orthopedics.—An Orthopaedic Clinic staffed by an Orthopaedic
Surgeon and a specially qualified nurse is held at the Stonebridge Health Centre. The report of the
Orthopaedic surgeon appears as Appendix F.
Abnormal Children.—Under this category are included the following classes of children :
Merely dull or backward, mentally defective (feeble-minded), imbecile, moral defective, idiot, physically
defective, blind or partially blind, deaf-mute or semi-mute or semi-deaf and epileptic.
These cases are reported to the Authority by parents, Head Teachers, Health Nurses, School
Attendance Officers, Hospitals and similar institutions, voluntary societies and private medical
practitioners. They are submitted to a special medical examination and are placed in a Special
Day or Residential School or ordinary elementary school, according to the character and degree of
the abnormality.
During the year 1932, 1,148 special children were examined or re-examined. Of the 340
original examinations included in the 1,148 examined, 65 were found to be physically defective, 12
mentally defective, 6 blind and partially blind, 22 dull and backward, 192 anaemic and debilitated,
25 defective speech, 4 deaf and dumb, 4 epiliptic, 2 defective vision, 3 nervousness, 2 unstable, 3
normal.
Leinster Mentally Defective School.—The certified accommodation at this school is
for 140 children and during the year under review the average number on the roll was 131. The
actual number on the roll at the 31st December, 1932 was 132. The average attendance for the
year was 115. There were no children awaiting admission to this school at the end of the year.
The staff consists of one Head Teacher, one full-time Assistant Master and four full-time
Assistant Mistresses. There are in addition three part-time Instructors—one for boot-making, one
for handicraft and one for domestic economy.
Five children were allowed to leave school before reaching the age of 16 years, 1 child was
transferred to an ordinary elementary school and 3 children were notified to the Middlesex County
Council, which is the local authority under the Mental Deficiency Acts, 1913-27, as requiring supervision
or guardianship.
The Certifying Medical Officer visits the school weekly for the purpose of revision of classification
and for medical examination of the children. 152 such examinations were made during 1932.
The school dinners are brought from Furness Road Feeding Centre and served in the school hall.
On an average 75 children take the school dinners and the remainder bring their own meal.
During the year routine medical inspection of all the children attending this school was carried
out. 118 children were examined, 22 of whom were found to require treatment, and the following
table gives a return of the defects found at medical inspection:—

Table No . 10.

Defects.Found to require treatment.Requiring to be kept under observation but not requiring treatment.
Malnutrition1-
Skin Disease1
Eye—Blepharitis2
Defective vision (ex. squint)1
Squint1
Other conditions1
Ear—Defective hearing1
Other ear diseases2
Nose and Throat—Enlarged tonsils only6
Adenoids only2
Enlarged cervical glands (non-tuberculous)1
Defective speech1
Defective Teeth251
Heart and Circulation. Heart functional5
Lungs—Bronchitis1
Other non-tuberculous diseases1
Other defects and diseases4
Total507

Oldfield Road Physically Defective School.—The certified accommodation at this
school is for 140 children. During the year under review the average number on the roll was 156,
the actual number on the roll on the 31st December, 1932, being 158. The average attendance for
the year was 132 and there were two children awaiting admission at the 31st December, 1932.
The school takes physically defective children between 5 and 16 years of age. The staff
consists of one Head Teacher and six full-time Assistants.