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98
"The Clinic accommodation is still causing difficulty,
especially in cases of emergency, and this on occasions has
actually stopped the work of the Clinic, with the consequent
disorganisation of appointments.
"Patients who fail to keep appointments without prior
notice, and those who arrive late are still with us and appear
to give no thought to the inconvenience caused, or the waste of
an appointment which someone else would have willingly kept.
"During the year 6,110 patients received 18,748 treatments,
making an overall attendance of adults and children of
3.06 treatments per patient for the year.
"The Children's Clinic has increased, having given 2,652
treatments to 738 children, making 3.5 treatments per child.
"Adult attendances have kept up, 5,372 patients received
16,096 treatments, making 2.9 treatments per patient; of these
888 were new cases. Transported cases have shown a rise, i.e.
236 female patients and 56 male, making a total of 292. The
attendances show that of the 18,748 treatments given only
4,078 were males, thus leaving 14,670 to the credit of the
females, which does rather point to the old, old question of
Shoes."
Shoes
The following extract from the Annual Report for 1957 of Dr.
R. G. Davies, Medical Officer of Health, Huddersfield, is of
interest:—
“Many girls who have perfect feet at their ten-yearold
examination have severe deformities by the time they reach
school leaving age, many of such a degree that they may eventually
require operative treatment. The present day fashion of
continued all day wear of shoes of a 'slip on' or 'casual' type,
which must of necessity be too small so that they can stay on,
or cause cramping of the toes to keep them on can during these
formative years cause hallux valgus, painful bunions and curling
under of the toes, sometimes of such a degree that the nails
are walked on. From an economic aspect only it is doubtful
if in years hence the country can afford comparatively
young, middle aged, and elderly women hobbling round on
deformed feet. The strange fact is that the young girl of today,
who would laugh at a whale-bone corset of Victorian days,
treats her feet in the same way as her great-great-grandmother
treated her waist."