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5
SPECIAL CASES.
The figures in Table III. give in greater detail information
relating to children specially referred or coming under notice for
the various conditions set out in the table.
Two half-days in each week are devoted to an Inspection
Clinic, where cases are referred by the School Attendance Committees,
School Attendance Officers and Teachers, also children
found on routine medical inspection to be in need of further examination.
One clinic is held at the Health Department, the other
at the Isleworth Public Hall.
It will be seen that skin diseases still constitute the largest
group of cases, but the incidence of Ringworm of the Scalp has
been practically eliminated by the treatment of cases at the School
Clinic, and it is hoped that the newly established Minor Ailments
Clinics may reduce the number of examinations necessary and
attendances lost in the case of Impetigo and similar diseases.
The children referred to me for nitty and verminous conditions
gave rise to the following action:—warning notices, 11; legal
notices, 57 ; prosecutions, 3 ; resulting in fines of 5/-, 7/6 and 10/respectively.
These cases aro in addition to those referred to on
page 4, arising out of routine medical inspection.
It will be observed that there is a distinct improvement in
the number of cases of nitty and verminous conditions dealt with
in 1917, as compared with recent years. In the absence of any
more obvious explanation, it is not unreasonable to attribute part,
at any rate, of this improvement to the prompt and systematic
action taken in 1916 to enforce the Committee's resolution with
regard to absence from school in these cases, the number of cases
taken to court and the fines imposed by the magistrates no doubt
having had a salutary effect.
Those children who are excluded are re-examined at frequent
intervals, and are closely followed up in order to encourage the
parents to have the condition remedied, and permit the child
returning to school. The number of days attendances lost by
children thus excluded has declined from 35,438 in 1915 to 19,815
in 1916, and 17,432 in the year under report.