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To the Chairman and Members of the
Walthamstow Committee for Education.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present herewith a report on the School Health Service
in Walthamstow during 1948.
The Service continued on the lines adopted in previous years,
but considerable work has been carried out for other Areas, notably
in Child Guidance, investigation of cardiac defects, Orthoptic treatment
and cleansing. A second Speech Therapist was provided.
The total of inspections, treatments and visits covered by the
School Health Service Staff were nearly 86,000, all of which were
dealt with without any serious difficulty or complaint.
The number of children examined at Medical Inspection is
lower than in previous years through lack of medical staff. Fortunately,
the staff is now at full strength and the arrears should soon
be overcome.
The nutritional assessment of children attending your schools
continues to be wholly satisfactory and in no small part this is due
to the school dinners and milk meals. Towards the end of the year,
the number of school dinners reached a total of nearly 9,300 on
December 22nd, or approximately 60 per cent. of attendances.
Immunisation has now been so successful that the defeat of
Diphtheria can virtually be recorded, provided the present rate of
immunisation is kept up, particularly in the pre-school child, and
that ' booster' doses are given as and when necessary.
The report refers to an interesting holiday experiment at the
Open-Air School, to a successful "School Journey" to Sweden,
and to references made to the Walthamstow Rheumatism clinic
at an International Congress in New York.
I would wish to express my appreciation to your Chairman
and to all Members of your Committee, to the Borough Education
Officer and his staff, and to the Staff of the School Health Service,
all of whom have contributed to the generally satisfactory position
referred to in this report.
I am,
Your obedient servant,
A. T. W. POWELL,
Borough School Medical Officer.