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2
COUNTY BOROUGH OF EAST HAM EDUCATION COMMITTEE
TO: THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Madam Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present my annual report on the work of the School
Health Service for the year 1960.
A most interesting experiment was begun in May 1960, when the Mayor
of East Ham, Councillor Mrs. Sutton, officially opened a new Council building
in Katherins Road. The ground floor of this six storey block consists of on
the one hand a Child Guidance Centre and on the other a combined Maternity and
Child Welfare and School Health Service Clinic. The upper five storeys contain
thirty one bedroomed flats. A separate entrance has been provided for
each group of users of the building. Despite forecasts of possible difficulties
the venture has proved an unqualified success and will surely point the way
nationally to a more intensive use of the limited amount of land available for
development in our great cities.
Also in May 1960 pure tone audiometrlc screening of the hearing of our
school children replaced the older and less efficient method of the gramophone
audiometer. Although at first screening was confined to the same age group,
namely children in their final year (fourth) at Junior school, it was decided
that at the commencement of the school year 1960-61 children in their third
year would also be screened. In this way by successively combining age groups
it should soon be possible to perform routine screening of all children during
their second year at Infant school.
The pure tone method of screening has many advantages over gramophone
audiometry. Not only can children be tested at a much earlier age, but the
test is in itself selective so all failures are referred directly, without
further investigation, to the specialist clinic at the Town Hall Annexe. For
the purposes of this test it has been decided to regard a loss of hearing
greater than fifteen decibels at any frequency to warrant referral to the
otologist. The importance of auditory screening will be apparent when it is
noted that of 2431 children tested during the year, 202 were noted to have
some degree of hearing defect and were referred to the Ear Nose and Throat
Surgeon.
At routine medical Inspection the most frequently recorded defect
requiring treatment continued to be visual defect excluding squint which now
accounts for two-thirds of all defects noted. There has also been an
absolute increase in the incidence of this defect. If the categories of
'requiring treatment' and 'observation' are taken together, the incidence has
risen from 67 to 1000 children In 1950 to 119 per 1000 in 1955 and has now
reached 180 per 1000. This unfavourable experience is not confined to East
Ham but is part of a national trend. It is difficult to believe, In spite
of authoritative statements to the contrary, that this deterioration in our
children's vision can be due to any factor other than prolonged television
viewing.
During the year the testing of the near vision of secondary school
pupils was introduced as part of the routine medical inspection. It is
hoped that in the near future it will be possible to test the vision of
each school child annually.
Congenital colour vision defect occurs chiefly in males usually
affecting the perception of green or less frequently red or both. It is
important that any boy who may be considering a career in which normal colour
vision is obligatory should be aware of any disability before embarking on a
course of training. With this aim colour vision testing using Ishihara
plates was Introduced as part of the 12 plus routine medical inspection of
secondary school pupils. As failure of the Ishihara test is not absolutely
conclusive any boy found to have a colour vision defect who it; considering
such a career, should be given a lantern test of the Ministry of Transport
type. Of 2619 children tested, 75 boys and 1 girl were found to have some
defect of colour vision.