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210
(b) Facilities whereby all clinics and all
forms of treatment available for the school
child should be made available for the preschool
child by arrangement between the two
Committees concerned.
Such co-ordination of effort would be greatly
facilitated if the Maternity and Child Welfare
Centres and the School Clinics occupied the same
building, and this should receive consideration when
the question of premises for either of these services
is contemplated.
(2) By the Creation of Special Institutions.
The Maternity and Child Welfare Authority may
provide centres, Day Nurseries and domiciliary
visitation out of the rate, aided by consolidated
grant; whereas the Education Authority may
establish Nursery Schools or Nursery Classes in
Elementary Schools out of the Education Rate with
the current 50 per cent, grant.
From a purely medical point of view, the best
system is that which subjects a child to routine
medical inspection—as in the case of school
entrants—at the earliest age. For that reason I am
of opinion that Nursery Schools or Nursery Classes
in Elementary Schools are preferable to Day
Nurseries, inasmuch as they would be more likely
to provide for a larger proportion of pre-school
children."
Since 1930, the activities of the Maternity and Child
Welfare Committee have been extended to include the systematic
home visiting by their health visitors of children up
to the age. of five years and the establishment of special
" Toddlers' Clinics " for the medical inspection and treatment
of children between the ages of two and five. For such preschool
children the Maternity and Child Welfare Authority
now provides all the clinic facilities and forms of special
medical treatment which are available for the school child.
In 1930, the Education Authority decided to remove the
age limit for entry of children into schools so as to bring as
many children as possible within the scope of the school
medical service. In December, 1933, I had occasion to report