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During the last twelve months 97 children
attended Of the boys three were pre school
age 35 between 5-11 years and 29 over 11
years. Of the girls only one child was preschool
13 children 5 11 years and 16 children
above 11 years
Hyposensitisation against pollens is now
undertaken with alum precipitated vaccines
reducing the number of pre-seasonal injections
to approximately 8 so that chi Idren suffering
from pollenasthma and severe pollenosis can
now be helped more easily In 1968 four children
with asthma and one with hayfever had these
injections (Alavac) No adverse reactions
occurred and all children were considerably
relieved, so that not only did school attendance
improve but the all round morale of the patients
was raised This is of special importance as
the hayfever season coincides with 0 and A
level examinations
After Prof Pepys findings of dermatophagoides
pteronyssinus (a microscopic mite) as
major allergenic factor in house-dust allergy
much stress is laid in advising patients about
house dust control regular hoovering of
mattresses etc
Seven children (three boys four girls) left
school and were discharged All were in
satisfactory physical health with peak expiratory
flow rate (P E F R ) ranging from 250 1/m to
well above 300 1/m Some of these young people
resented being precluded from further attendance
at the clinic
Two of the boys took apprenticeships, one
entered accountancy one girl went to college
the others took up secretarial work No
handicap is anticipated in any of these patients.
The poorly housed child with persistent
vasomotoric coryza and perennial wheezing
offers socio-economic problems rather than
medical ones and many a housing recommendation
had to be written with the occasional
success i.e an almost complete relief of
symtoms when it was possible to change the
adverse physical environment
Hearing Clinic
The work of the hearing clinic continued to
increase during 1968 The number of cases seen
during the year was 1 105 of which 362 were
new cases and 743 were cases seen for reexamination
Routing screen audiometry was continued in
all primary schools as in previous years In order
to detect a hearing loss as soon as possible the
children are now screened during their first year
in school instead of, as previously being screened
in their second year at school The children who
fail the audiometric screening test are referred to
the school medical officer who decides whether the
child should be re-tested in the school clinic or
referred for further investigations The number of
tests performed during the year was
Age 1st test Re-test at Total Re test
in school school clinic seen failure
Under 7 years 3;192 3 42 3,534 94
8 to 11 years 3.641 182 3.823 51
12 years &
over
Total 6,833 524 7 357 145
This shows a large increase in the total number
of children tested in school compared with the
previous year (4,241) and is largely due to both
first and second year infant school and third and
fourth year junior school children having been tested
The children seen in the school clinics for
special audiometry were referred by medical officers
speech therapists general practitioners, and from
the school psychological service The number of
children referred for special audiometry is shown in
the following table
Age 1st test Re-test Total Failures
Under 5 years 101 5 106 28
5 to 7 years 396 62 458 148
8 toll years 308 59 367 107
12 years &
over 150 16 166 51
Total 955 142 1 ;097 334
There is a growing awareness of the importance
of early diagnosis of a hearing loss and this is
borne out by a comparison of the number of young
children (new cases) who were seen at the hearing
clinic in the past three years.
Age 1966 1967 1968
0 to 1 year 11 14 23
2 to 4 years 115 100 147
Total 126 114 170
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