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Annual Report of the Principal School Medical Officer for the year 1972
Organisation
This is the eight Annual Report on the School Health
Service provided since the 1st April 1965 by the London
Borough of Hounslow. The arrangement whereby the
School Health Service is closely integrated with the other
Health Services administered by the Department of Health
has continued. Joint use is made of medical, dental, nursing
and other staff as well as the clinic premises.
Co-operation
It is important that there is an exchange of information
between hospital, general practitioner and school medical
staff.
Local hospitals have agreed to send reports to school
medical officers on all children of school age under their
care. Hospitals outside the area will send reports on request.
Most family doctors in the area have indicated that they
do not require their permission to be sought before a child
can be referred for specialist opinion or hospital
treatment. In all cases the family doctor is sent a copy of
the hospital report.
School Health Service

Periodic Medical Inspections
Under the provisions of the Education Act it is the duty of
the Local Authority to provide at appropriate intervals, for
the medical inspection of pupils in attendance at any school
provided by them. The Authority may require the parent
of any pupil, in attendance at such a school, to submit the
pupil for medical inspection in accordance with the
arrangement made for such inspection.
Periodic medical inspections are carried out at school
entry, at school leaving age and on one or more
intermediate occasions. Efforts are made to examine
children in nursery classes each term.
When a periodic medical inspection is arranged, the
Head Teacher is asked to submit the names of any other
pupils in whose case a special medical examination is
thought to be advisable. Pupils requiring follow-up from
previous medical examination can also be seen so that the
visit of the medical officer to the school is used to cover a
wider field than the selective age group. If the best results
are to be obtained from these visits to the school, there
should be close collaboration and consultation between
medical officer and head teacher.
At the "Leavers" examination Form Y.9 is completed
for each pupil and forwarded to the Principal Careers
Officer. This form indicates any types of occupation that
should be avoided for health reasons.
The number of pupils submitted to periodic medical
inspection during the year was 7,560 and the results are
shown in Table 24. The physical condition of 92 (2.21%)
was considered to be unsatisfactory. The concept of
unsatisfactory physical conditions varied with the
examining doctors but the important point is that efforts
are made to bring the pupil to a satisfactory physical state.
Special Examinations and Re-examinations
Any parent, head teacher, school nurse, speech therapist,
physiotherapist or audiometrician and others may request
the medical examination of a pupil and these special
examinations are usually carried out at clinics. Regular
school clinic sessions are held at which a medical officer is
in attendance. Where necessary, special sessions are
arranged.

The defects found at periodic and special medical
inspections are shown in Table 24.
Uncleanliness and Verminous Conditions
School nurses examine children for uncleanliness of person
and clothing and the presence of lice and their eggs (nits).
At one time all pupils were examined at least once in each
term, but as uncleanliness of person or clothing had
become rare, flea or body lice infestation almost unknown
and the incidence of head lice much reduced, such regular
examinations were discontinued and the nurse visited the
school to carry out these examinations only at the request
of the Head Teacher or where there were grounds for
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