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Public Health Department,
Elmfield House,
High Street,
Teddington,
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Borough of Twickenham.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for 1957 on the health and
sanitary conditions of the Borough together with the supplement containing the
statistical tables for 1956 as required by the Ministry of Health.
This is the jubilee year of the school health service. It was introduced by
the Education (Administration Provisions) Act, 1907, after the Boer War had shown
what a lot of sub-standard young men we had in the country. Up to 1948 the
service performed a wonderful job in alleviating, correcting and preventing the
numerous disabilities of our school children, especially those from homes which
could not afford the fees for private doctors. But the service is changing. We are
not now so concerned with the trivial disabilities which formerly afflicted a great
number of our children; nowadays the aim is more and more to try to achieve in
every child perfect health and physique, and still more that radiant happiness
which comes from mental health based on sound principles coming to be more widely
understood and acted upon.
This last year or two we have increased our services by the addition of more
special places at Bedfont school; by a new school for the deaf, provision for the
partially deaf, and the conversion of another school for the physically handicapped,
in our neighbouring Borough at Hounslow; by extending the provision for the
detection of children partially deaf; by ensuring that the children's eyesight is
tested as near as possible to the age of five instead of later; by trying to make the
principles of child guidance more widely known amongst the health visitors and
medical officers; by the use of more specialised methods for the detection of disabilities
in very young children; and by a constant critical attitude of mind to the
types of medical examinations and their techniques and by diligent search for
improved methods. Our facilities for dealing with the disabilities and handicap
of pupils of all sorts and conditions are far wider than they were five or ten years
ago. It is comforting to observe the continual improvement.
We have introduced vaccination against poliomyelitis and have also started
the B.C.G. vaccination against tuberculosis. There is a note of these two later in
the report.
We have improved our clinic facilities at Bedfont and we had the official
opening in July, 1956. Those of you who have visited it must agree it is a beautiful
place and I am very proud of it. This year we have begun to build the longneeded
clinic at Shepperton which, I feel sure, will be equally attractive.
The problem of local self-government has again been shelved by referring the
problem to a Royal Commission. I do hope, Mr. Mayor, that if we are invited
to give evidence before the Royal Commission we shall continue to urge the desirability
of local autonomy for most of our health services.
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