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78
Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic.
The E.N.T. Clinic is held at Valenties Mansion, the Surgeon attending
one session weekly.
47 sessions were held during 1955, and 716 attendances were made
by 386 children of school age, of whom 260 were new cases.
The Consulting Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon (Miss Margaret Mason)
submits the following report:—
"The clinic in 1955 showed a small decline in numbers, compared
with 1954; 260 new patients and 126 old patients made a total
of 716 attendances.
132 cases were added to the waiting list for operations, as compared
with 176 the previous year. Unfortunately, the Theatre block
at the Ilford Isolation Hospital was only available for two operating
sessions during the year, and the waiting list climbed to 188 by the
end of the year, from 92 at the end of 1954. although 1 did manage
to get a few of the more urgent cases treated at King George Hospital
and elsewhere. This problem is still difficult of solution, on account
of the likelihood of summer outbreaks of poliomyelitis, which in the
present state of our knowledge makes tonsil and adenoid operations
inadvisable.
A number of cases of nasal allergy and chronic rhinitis have
been treated this year by preliminary skin testing, followed by
desensitising injections given over a period of 3—4 months. Parents
have, on the whole, been most co-operative in attending regularly,
even though they may live at a distance from the clinic.
A number of cases of suspected deafness seen during the year
have been further investigated and recommended for hearing aids and
sometimes special schooling. In this we have been able to make use
of the new clinic for deaf children recently opened in West Ham, for
the under-fives; it would be of great assistance if similar facilities
were available for children of school age, as we have to refer them
to the Audiology Clinic in Gray's Inn Road, which is already rather
overburdened, and does involve rather long journeys for our patients."