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86
To the School Medical Officer,
County Borough of East Ham,
Education Committee.
February 10th, 1927.
Sir,
I have the honour to submit to you my report of the work
done in the Aural Clinic during the year 1926.
The total number of cases that presented themselves for
diagnosis or inspection was 473, consisting of 264 boys and 209
girls, necessitating 862 separate visits to the Specialist. On the
other hand the Treatment Clinic, under the charge of its capable
staff of Sister and nurses, dealt with 2,995 visits made by those
children considered by the Specialist to require regular or particular
attention, or where the home conditions were unsatisfactory.
There were in all 555 cases showing defective hearing, and of
these 283 had the added symptoms of aural discharge.
89 cases showed under treatment definite improvement in
hearing, and should be numbered chiefly among those children
who suffered from a catarrhal deafness without discharge, and
who benefited from the operation for removal of their tonsils and
adenoids, rather than those with suppurating ears where more or
less damage to the hearing has permanently occurred, and where
the aim of treatment is mainly directed towards the arrest of the
active disease.
In 255 children the operation for removal of tonsils and
adenoids was advised, and in the greater proportion of these cases
the operation was duly carried out, and with very beneficial
results. More and more the qualms of parents and their resistance
to the advice offered are being overcome, and this is due no doubt
to a better education of the facts brought about largely by the
visiting nurses as well as by the obvious results obtained by improved
clinics throughout the district.
The number of cases discharged during the year amounted
to 161, a by no means satisfactory result when one considers the
total number of afflicted cases, but certainly encouraging when
one thinks of the many difficulties to be encountered, such as the
amount of time and care to be given to each individual case, the
limited accommodation in hospitals, and the retarding effects of
conditions in certain classes of homes. The future, however,