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99
SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
The main function of the school health service is to promote the
health and welfare of school children in order that they may derive the
maximum benefit from the education provided. The basis "instrument"
used to achieve this end is the medical inspection of children. These
inspections have a two-fold purpose:
(1) to detect actual defects present, and,
(2) to elicit signs indicative of developing physical defect or
emotional disturbances, which could interfere with a child's
educational progress.
The staff involved in the school health service also deal with the
children in the pre-school stage of the personal health service, thus there
is a continuity in care beginning in the pre-school phase and continuing on
into the period of school life.
In the pre-school period, arrangements are made to see and examine
children with special emphasis on their general developmental progress.
Children with obvious defects, for example, blindness, severe degree of
deafness, paralysis, etc., are easily identified and appropriate measures
can be instituted at an early age to assist in (a) training the child, (b)
aiding the social adjustment often required within the family, and, (c)
making suitable arrangements for future education. On the other hand,
many defects, which can have a deleterious effect on a child's future
progress, both intellectual and social, can be hidden and not readily
identifiable. This being so, arrangements are made in the pre-school
period to monitor children's progress—special surveillance being instituted
when any deviations from the norm are noted. In the past, particular
attention was paid to those children who had been placed on the
"observation register". These were children who were potentially at risk
of developing some form of defect as a result of some factor having an
effect in the prenatal period or during labour. Nowadays it is considered
that developmental screening should be part and parcel of every child's
pre-school care. These examinations usually culminate in the important
pre-school one carried out on as many children as possible at the age of
44 years—special care being taken at this stage to ensure that each child
has had all protective immunisation completed before starting school.
This inter-relationship between the pre-school personal health and the
school health services strengthen the argument that the school health
service should definitely be within the restructured National Health
Service.
PERIODIC MEDICAL INSPECTIONS
The pre-school medicals lead into the periodic medical inspections
carried out under Section 48 of the Education Act 1944. This section
makes it the duty of a local education authority to provide for the medical
inspection at appropriate intervals of pupils in attendance at any school