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84
All Schools.—Supplied with hygienic toilet paper
containers.
The cloak room accommodation and the provision
of adequate wash basins is sadly lacking in some of
the older schools established in Bromley prior to 1865.
The teaching of the young child the principles of hygiene
continues in the schools, but it is pure hypocracy to do
so when the actual premises in which this teaching is
carried out does not comply with the principles. For
example, the continued use of roller towels and common
drinking vesesls. A little more practice and a little less
theory would make a happier condition of affairs.
Co-ordination.
The Health Services of Bromley act as a unit, and
there is also complete co-ordination with those services
such as Tuberculosis, Sale of Food and Drugs, which are
not under our direct control. The Secondary School
Medical Service is still carried out by the County Council,
although necessitous cases are treated through the
special services of the School Clinic. The School Medical
Services are available to the Maternity and Child
Welfare cases.
There are no nursery schools in Bromley and the
accommodation for children under five years of age is
being taken up in order to provide for the increased
school population. This state of affairs is an increasingly
difficult problem. It tends to widen the gap between
the Maternity and Child Welfare Service and the School
Medical Service, a gap which could be filled by the
establishment of nursery classes, or of a nursery school.
Taking into consideration the financial as well as the
public health aspect of the question, it is a very
debatable matter whether such schools or classes are an
economical asset. The aggregation of young children
at an age when they are very susceptible to infectious
disease is a somewhat dangerous procedure. Admittedly
such children are present at Sunday Schools and at places
of amusement, and so are exposed to mass infection
without having the benefit of a medical service, but this
should be no reason why we should add to the trouble