London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Walthamstow 1930
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Walthamstow]
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Officers and are. if necessary, followed up for the remainder of the
child's school life. Dr. Sheppard has kindly contributed the
following account of the good work done during 1930:—
"During 1930 the Eye Clinics were held at Lloyd Park as usual on
Tuesday afternoons and Thursday and Saturday mornings. The
Saturday Clinic is principally devoted to seeing those children who
have obtained new glasses during the week, and to checking the
lenses and the 'fit' of the frames. In my opinion correctly fitting
frames are of paramount importance in the correction of defective
vision, especially where there is any 'eye strain' or squint, and often
it has been my unpleasant duty to insist that the lenses be changed
from a badlv fitting gilt heirloom to a common steel frame.
"The average number of children seen per session was 19 with an
average of 6.5 children submitted to retinoscopy.
'"The provision of glasses is greatly facilitated by the weekly
payment system in vogue. One hundred and seventy-one parents
took advantage of this scheme and only seven had to have glasses
given free by your Committee.
''The following Table shows the number of attendances made by children at the Clinic—it does not include children treated for external diseases of the eye.
| Disease. | No. of Children seen at Clinic. | No. of Attendances made by children. | Average No. of Attendances per Child. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. | Boys. | Girls. | |
| Hypcrmetropia | 88 | 107 | 217 | 283 | 2.5 | 2.6 |
| Myopia | 67 | 100 | 157 | 210 | 2.3 | 2.1 |
| Hypermetropic Astigmatism | 66 | 97 | 183 | 259 | 2.7 | 2.7 |
| Myopic Astigmatism | 28 | 29 | 63 | 63 | 2.3 | 2.2 |
| Mixed Astigmatism | 28 | 30 | 96 | 93 | 3.4 | 3.1 |
| Odd Eyes | 24 | 25 | 55 | 90 | 2.3 | 3.6 |
| Glasses not required (Nystagmus, Cataracts et c.) | 48 | 47 | 84 | 2.0 | 1.8 | |
| Total | 436 | 818 | 1082 | 2.5 | 2.48 | |
"By 'odd eyes' is meant those cases where the child is suffering
from long or short sight in one eye while the other is normal. It is
often difficult to persuade the parent that this type of case requires
glasses as there is no obvious improvement with glasses owing to
the normal vision in one eye, nevertheless glasses are even more
necessary than when both eyes are affected as the abnormal eye
rapidly loses its sight from disuse.