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THE SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
It is the duty of the Borough as Local Education Authority to arrange for medical inspection at
appropriate intervals of pupils in attendance at any maintained school.
Medical Inspections can be classified under three headings:—
(1) Routine inspections (inspections which are carried out at certain periods during a
child's school life).
(2) Special examinations (examinations carried out at the special request of a parent,
doctor, nurse, teacher, or other person).
(3) Re-examinations (arising out of one of the periodic medical inspections or out of a
special examination).
Basically, routine inspections are carried out in school, whereas special examinations and reexaminations
are mainly carried out in clinic premises. The School Health Service Regulations 1959
(6) state that the premises used for the School Health Service shall be kept in a proper state of
repair, cleanliness and hygiene, as follows:—
(i) In every primary school (secondary school) suitable accommodation shall be immediately
available at any time during school hours for the inspection and treatment of pupils by
doctors, dentists and nurses.
(ii) The accommodation for such inspection and treatment shall be well and suitably lighted
and heated and shall be conveniently accessible to a closet, and every room provided for
such purposes shall include a washbasin with a supply of hot and cold water.
Although these Regulations have now been in force for more than six years, it is with regret
that it is necessary to report that the facilities available in some schools leave a great deal to be
desired.
Periodic Medical Inspection
Routine medical record cards are kept at school clinics, each of which serves a number of
schools. The cards are kept up to date by 'on' and 'off' rolls received at the end of each month from
each school. In addition, at least once every two years the routine medical cards are checked
against the school registers, and the result of these checks usually indicates the excellence of the
schools' method of reporting admissions and leavers on the monthly basis.
In Ministry of Education Circular 352/59 it is stated that many local education authorities
will doubtless continue to carry out the duty of medical inspection by means of periodic examinations.
This is the case in the London Borough of Hillingdon where inspections take place basically
as follows:—
1. During the first year of compulsory school attendance;
2. During the last year in the primary school or, failing this, in the first year in the secondary
school;
3. During the school year in which pupils reach 15 years of age;
4. Where pupils stay on after reaching compulsory school age they are examined during the
school year in which they reach 17 years of age;
5. Nursery school children are examined as soon after starting school as possible.
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