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TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE EDUCATION COMMITTEE.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report on the School Health
Service for the year 1953.
It has been a year of consolidation in your services, and the expansion
of some branches of the department has enabled better work to be done. I
refer in particular to the School Dental Service which last year, through
lack, of staff, found Itself unable to deal with anything approaching its
normal volume of work. I am happy to report that your appointment of an
additional dental officer enabled the routine dental inspections of schoolchildren
to be increased three-fold. At the same time I would acknowledge
the assistance given to the dental service by local dental practitioners who
agreed to be employed in our clinics on a sessional basis when sickness among
our own staff gave rise to difficulties.
The medical staff have been fully occupied during the year and the
character of the work has been maintained at a high level. As envisaged in
my last report a pre-school medical examination was substituted for the
previous "Fitness for school examination". A thorough examination of the
child is now given before entry into school, and in consequence the first
school examination has been dropped. In my opinion the new pre-school
examination has demonstrated its value by enabling physical defects to be
round and corrected before the child begins school. In this way those
children suffering from minor troubles, for example speech abnormalities,
avoid some embarrassment at the onset of their school career. In other
cases the Education Department has been able to place children who fall
within the handicapped pupil categories in appropriate special classes or
schools.
The medical staff continue to devote much of their time to the ascertainment
of handicapped children, and every care is taken to see that these
pupils are given education appropriate to their ability. With the co-operation
of the Maternity and Child Welfare Department children with known disabilities
are kept under observation from early Infancy to ensure their
correct placement later. The advice of hospital consultants is available
to assist in this work and is frequently sought.
The service continues to have the friendly and efficient co-operation
of the hospital consultants both in the specialist clinics and In the hospitals
themselves. Reports on children undergoing hospital treatment are
made available freely to us by the consultant paediatrician in the local
hospital. It should be noted that no child is referred to a specialist
without prior consultation with the general practitioner concerned and his
full approval.
The work of the Child Guidance Clinic expanded during the year, but
your appointment of an Assistant Educational Psychologist, a Psychiatric
Social Worker, and a Child Therapist, enabled an extra psychiatric team to
be formed, and the increased numbers have been adequately dealt with.
Your medical staff continue to examine all newly appointed teachers,
and routine chest x-ray examination of such teachers has proved to be of
great value In protecting the health of the school-children.
The volunteer group of school-leaving pupils who began co-operation
with the Medical Research Council's team investigating the use of B.C.G.
vaccine in the prevention of tuberculosis, are continuing with the trials
which will last for three years. The Medical Research Council provide the
mobile x-ray unit for the annual chest x-ray, while all follow-up reports
are completed by the Council's health visitors.