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101
Introduction.
The School Medical Service in 1930 again indicated a
growing use of the facilities provided by the Local
Education Authority, and an ever increasing demand on
the services of the staff. It is something more than merely
the routine medical inspection and minor ailment treatment
of necessitous children. It has extended beyond the
so-called " poor law " aspect of a state service, and is
to-day an important part of a unified public health
scheme, covering not only the individual but the
environment of home and school life as well. It is a vital
and economical factor in maintaining a good school
attendance, and in educating parents in the principles
of prevention of disease and the practice of health.
The services as provided in past years continued to
function to their full capacity, and the year saw their
increase by the opening in February of a new Health
Centre in the South Clinic, Princes Plain, Bromley
Common, and by the establishment of organised Physical
Training under two newly appointed Physical Training
Organisers in conjunction with other Education Authorities
in North West Kent area. The new Clinic provides an
additional centre for the investigation and prevention of
the causes of ill-health and also for the necessary treatment,
while physical training is concerned with the
establishment of factors that make for positive health.
Coinciding with these two developments in 1936 has
been an increased activity in the treatment, under the
School Medical Services, of the pre-school child. In this
direction there is still much to be done, but it is pleasing
to note that the same attention is now paid to the
treatment of the child of 2—5 years of age as has
been given in the past to the child of school age. I
believe we can safely sav of Bromley that the children of
all ages now have the facility of receiving treatment and
advice at a cost reasonable to the financial circumstances
of the family. One distinction should be made, and that
is that the services do not provide treatment that could
be better obtained under domiciliary conditions, and in
no way do they interfere with the services of the general
practitioners. They are strictly limited to the minor