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79
TREATMENT.
15,061 attendances for minor ailment treatment at the Clinics
were made during 1949.

Children requiring special treatment, e.g., Orthopædic,
Ophthalmic, Dental and Speech, are referred to the special
clinics. Cases requiring hospital treatment are referred to
either Farnborough Hospital or Bromley Hospital, and those
requiring domiciliary treatment are referred to their own doctor.
The Child Guidance Clinic is held at Chislehurst, and children
in need of this treatment are referred to the County Council for
appointments at this clinic. Tuberculous children are referred
to the Chest Clinic at Park Road, Bromley.
ORTHOPÆDIC CLINIC.
(See Table III, Group IV.)
I am indebted to Mr. K. F. Hulbert, the Orthopaedic Surgeon,
for the following report:—
"The Orthopaedic Clinic has continued throughout the year
with increasing numbers. Clinks have been held on the second
and fourth Friday afternoons of every month, and several extra
sessions have been included to keep up with the numbers.
"There has been no marked change in the type of case
attending, and feet and backs still predominate over everything
else. There is a tendency to regard flat feet as an anatomical
rather than a physiological problem, and the child with flat feet
who comes in first in all the school sports is regarded with disfavour,
rather than the child with apparently normal feet who
comes in last. The feet should be regarded from the point of
view of function alone, and a flat foot that fulfils its normal
functions is a normal foot. If this point is always emphasised,
it will clear up misunderstandings in the minds of parents and
teachers when children are discharged from the clinic with flat
feet still apparent.