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There mark what ills the scholar's life assail.—Samuel Johnson, 1738
Annual Report of the Principal School Medical
Officer for the year 1970
Dr. J. W. E. Bridger—Principal Medical Officer (School Health)
Part I
MEDICAL INSPECTION IN SCHOOLS
The medical inspection of school children in the Borough's schools is laid down by Section 48
of the Education Act, 1944, whereby it is the duty of Local Education Authorities to provide for
the medical inspection of pupils attending maintained schools in their area. These medical inspections
are carried out by school medical officers employed by the Authority in the School Health
Service. All parents are given the opportunity of being present at every medical inspection of
their children.
This Authority has decided to carry out its duty to inspect all children periodically as follows:
(a) Children entering school under 5 years of age are to be inspected as soon as possible
after entry to school and to be inspected again after reaching the age of 5 years providing
an interval of at least one year has elapsed between routine inspections.
(b) Children entering school at 5 years of age and over to be inspected during their first
year at school.
(c) A further inspection during the child's last year in a primary school. If this should not
be possible, then a child should be examined in its first year at a secondary school.
(d) An inspection during the child's fourth year at a secondary school, that is to say the
school year in which a child reaches 15 years of age.
(e) Where pupils continue at school beyond 15 years of age, another inspection will then
be made at approximately 17 years of age.
In addition to these periodic inspections, pupils can be inspected at any time at the request
of the headteacher, parent, or school nurse.
The total number of routine medical inspections of school children during 1970 was 8,922
and a further 5,058 special inspections and re-inspections made at school or at school health
clinics brought the total to 13,980. There were fewer routine medical inspections completed in
1970 than in 1969 (11,545) due to shortages of medical staff. At the beginning of 1970 the
establishment was 8 Medical Officers in Department. By the end of June 1970 there was in fact
only one whole-time Medical Officer in Department and the equivalent sessional/part-time staff
of approximately 4 Medical Officers in Department.
It was necessary to advise the Education Committee that periodic inspections could only
be offered to two groups of school children, namely new entrants to schools for the first time, and
secondary school leavers in order to assist the Career Officers and ensure that children left school
as fit as it was possible to expect. Since June 1970 great efforts have been made to overcome
these staffing difficulties, and by the end of the year a complete establishment had been achieved.
It is clear from the previous paragraph that economic deployment of medical manpower is
of the greatest importance, firstly to give the children and their parents the advantage of skilled
advice about the general well-being and happiness of their children, and to give the Education
Authority and its school personnel skilled medical opinion so that the education provided can be
used to the greatest advantage. Many schemes have been put forward for the inspection of school
children, but they derive from two main principles. The first has been the complete inspection of
every school child at least three times in its school career by a doctor. This means that a large
number of healthy children are examined, which is time consuming, but a number of unsuspected
and potentially remediable defects come to light during these examinations which would not
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