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101
accounted for by the amount of temporary work done in an
eftort to save the teeth of those children who must remain
deprived of a full service until such time as the essential
elementary items of equipment have been supplied. It will be
remembered that one surgery has now been out of full action
for two years—not a very satisfactory state of affairs in an
essential service, and one which does not allow us to look forward
with any confidence to the business of tackling the
increased demands which will arise with the inauguration of
the new Health Act."
UNCLEANLINESS.
School Nurses carry out at least one visit a term to each
school for vermin and cleanliness inspection. The standard of
cleanliness throughout the schools is excellent—of the 13,954
inspections made only 115 children were found to be so infested
as to be excluded. An additional 245 children showed minor
evidence of uncleanliness. All children excluded are referred
to attend minor ailment clinics for reinspection, and, if still
verminous, are reported to committee for action under the
Education Act. No such cases were reported in 1946. Parents
are advised on the best methods of treatment for verminous
conditions and their response to advice has been, in practically
all cases, excellent.
(i) Average number of visits per school made during
the year by the school nurses 3.25
(ii) Total number of examinations of pupils in the schools
by school nurses 13954
(iii) Number of individual pupils found unclean 115
It is to be noted that the statistics above refer to individual
children (iii), but more often than not the same child is found
to be verminous at each inspection. Special attention and advice
is given to these parents, and a home inspection shows other
members of the family to be similarly infected.
MILK IN SCHOOLS.
Up to August, 1946, children were permitted to order ⅓ or
2/3 Pint milk per day, the charge being ½d. for ⅓ pint and the
figures shown represent those taken in a survey made on a day
in February, 1946.