View report page

131
County Borough of East Ham Education Committee.
TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE
EDUCATION COMMITTEE.
Ladies and Gentlemen,—
I have the honour to present my Annual Report upon the work
carried out in the School Medical Department of the County
Borough of East Ham during the year ended 31st December, 1932.
The year 1932 has witnessed the 25th anniversary of the
School Medical Service (Sec. 13 I. (b) of the Education—Administrative
Provisions—Act, 1907), and perhaps I may be forgiven for
exhibiting some pride in the fact that I have been responsible for
the administration of the Service, in East Ham, since its inception,
and for a degree of sentiment in the knowledge that this 25th
birthday coincides with my last complete year of office as your
School Medical Officer.
It would seem fitting and desirable that this report should
contain a brief summary and comparative account of the growth
and activities of the School Medical Service during the past quarter
of a century.
In the year 1909 the staff of the School Medical Service consisted
of four officers: the Medical Officer of Health, a part-time
Assistant Medical Officer (four sessions per week), a School Nurse,
and one Clerk. At this time the only statutory obligation was the
medical inspection of all children newly admitted to school and
those who were entering upon their last year of school attendance.
The Authority made no provision for medical or surgical treatment
of any kind.
Statutory obligations have steadily increased and now include
the annual medical inspection of elementary school children in three
age-groups, the medical inspection of all secondary school children
each year, and the provision of adequate treatment for the defects
discovered at medical inspection. To-day the staff of the School
Medical Service numbers twenty-three. (See page 130 )