View report page

32
INTRODUCTION.
As suggested in Form 6M of the Board of Education
(Medical Branch), the Annual Report on the School
Medical Services is again abridged for the purpose of
war economy.
There have been no additions or depletions of the
full-time staff, and changes in the nursing and clerical
staffs, consequent on resignations and the demands of
the fighting services, are shown in the staff list appearing
at the commencement of this Report.
In spite of war conditions, there was in Bromley no
curtailment of normal routine in the Medical Services;
in fact, during war-time there is or should be, an intensification
of Health Services to safeguard the health of
the young child. The staff undertook additional work
in connection with refugee children, medical examination
of some 700 overseas evacuees, nutritional survey, and
the medical and nursing staffs have also voluntarily
undertaken first aid post supervisory duties in the
Casualty Services, where their skilful services at all
times have been of the utmost value to the community.
It was found desirable for reasons other than Public
Health to discontinue the operative treatment clinic for
Tonsils and Adenoids in the early autumn, and the services
of the Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist have been
with regret dispensed with for the time being.
By the end of 1939 the various units of the Casualty
Services were working on a stabilised routine within the
framework of the Health Department's organisation,
and the staff was able to settle down more normally to
routine duties during 1940. Although the schools were
not in full-time attendance until April and although
conditions were not conducive to regular attendance of
children at clinics, the work accomplished in the School
Medical Services during 1940 compares well with 1939
as indicated in the summary of statistics which follows
this introduction. Only extracts from the year's
statistics are quoted in this Report, but full statistical
records have been compiled and retained in the records
for future reference.
The nutrition of children has been well maintained;
in fact, one gets the general impression (that nutrition