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6
Vaccination and Immunisation
Towards the end of the year vaccination against rubella (German
measles) became available, and was offered to all girls in their 13th year.
There was an 86 per cent acceptance rate, and 478 girls received protection.
This immunity is given to prevent infection during pregnancy, with its
high risk of foetal abnormality.
Speech Therapy
Speech therapy for pre-school children continued to be a most
important part of the work undertaken by the therapists. Progress was made
with the formation of a special class for young children at accommodation in
a school in Chessington. It was expected that the class would be ready to
admit children after Easter 1971.
Audiology
The joint audiology service with the London Borough of Merton
continued to expand„ The partially-hearing nursery unit has provided for
a real need, and the help given to young hearing-handicapped children has
been very much appreciated by parents.
Bedelsford School
Fhase I of the remodelling of the buildings was completed, providing
places for 85 physically handicapped children. There were 66 children on
the roll at the end of the year.
StoPhilip's School
Younger children continued to enter this school at the age for normal
school entry. They gain much in confidence as a result of receiving education
with their equals. If they attend an ordinary school they are likely to drop
rapidly behind others in their age group, often becoming frustrated and discouraged,
which not infrequently causes other problems.
Proposed Reorganisation of the National Health Service
The second Green Paper on the National Health Service in England and
Wales was published early in 1970. In his foreword, the then Secretary of
State for Social Services stated that most of those who had commented on the
Green Paper of 1968 endorsed its central theme - the need to weld together
the three parts of the Health Service at every level to form an integrated
service.