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165
Minor Ailments
Minor ailments are treated by the Health Visitors at the
Clinics, or at school if requested by the Head Teacher.
These arrangements are found to avoid loss of school time
which would otherwise be inevitable.
During the year a total of 308 pupils was treated.
Treatment of Pupils
EYE DISEASES, DEFECTIVE VISION AND SQUINT
Number of cases known to have been dealt with:—
External and other, excluding errors of
refraction arid squint 14
Errors of refraction (including squint) 4,517
Total 4,531
Number of pupils for whom spectacles were
prescribed 1,791
Ophthalmic Clinics
These Clinics are situated at Beckenham. Bromley, Chislehurst,
Orpington, Penge and St. Paul's Cray. A total of 9 weekly sessions
is held at these centres. In addition a session is held every other
week at Bromley.
A total of 720 new cases and 3,811 re-examinations was seen
at the Clinics.
The attendance at these Clinics continued to be very good on
the whole, and it was again possible for both new cases and reexaminations
to be seen without any undue delay.
The importance of the Ophthalmic Clinics cannot be overstressed
as unchecked defects of vision can have serious effects on
a child's scholastic achievements.
It is with regret that we record the death at the beginning of
the year of Mr. Oliver Walker, who, since the inception of the
Borough on the 1st April, 1965, had been one of the Ophthalmic
Consultants at the Chislehurst Clinic, and who had previously
worked for many years for the Kent County Council. We were
fortunate in being able to amalgamate successfully this session
with one already in being, thus reducing the weekly sessions at
Chislehurst from two to one.
Orthoptic Clinic
Patients seen at this Clinic are always referred by an
Ophthalmologist. Three weekly sessions are held at the Bromley
North Clinic, and one session per week at The Willows Clinic,
Chislehurst. The latter clinic was only started in August in order
to reduce the travelling distance for some patients and thus to