London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Hounslow 1972

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hounslow]

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Marjory Kinnon School
176 children within the age range 4-16 attend the school.
The children have usually made poor progress in the normal
school and are referred from the School Psychological
Service but increasingly they are found to have specific
difficulties with language/communication and not to be
globally retarded. A principal medical officer sees all the
children before they are admitted to the school and visits
the school twice weekly to do medical assessments and
meet parents and teachers. A number of organic conditions
which would lead to low intelligence have been discovered
and there is often a history of low birth weight,
prematurity and perinatal difficulties.
There is a full-time nurse who sees to medication, care
of epileptics, minor ailments, hospital appointments. She
often takes the children for hospital and dental
appointments, and acts as liaison officer between hospital
and school. A physiotherapist spends three sessions per
week at the school and treats children with locomotor and
co-ordination difficulties.
The speech therapist treats children individually and in
small groups. She also assists in the language stimulation
class, run jointly with the psychologist.
Regular visits to the school are also made by the
psychologist, audiometrician and teacher for the deaf. The
social worker provides the vital link between school staff,
medical team and parents. The discussions with the
psychiatrist from the Child Guidance Clinic have continued
once per term and have been a great help to the school
staff.
The new school should open in 1974 and the medical
team are looking forward to having more space in which to
do assessments and therapy.

The figures in the following table relate to the position in December 1972 and show the number of children who attend from Hounslow and neighbouring boroughs.

BoysGirlsTotal
London Borough of Brent1_1
London Borough of Ealing4-4
North Surrey8513
London Borough of Hounslow8276158
Total9581176

Lindon-Bennett School
95 children whose intelligence is within the severely
subnormal range, attend this school, 19 of whom need
constant supervision or nursing care and are in the special
care unit.
A principal medical officer visited the school weekly
and most of the children were seen during the year.
Approximately 40% of the children are mongols and many
have heart, visual, hearing and speech defects. The children
in the special care unit are multiply handicapped and twelve
are chairbound. The main disabilities are cerebral palsy,
epilepsy and spina bifida.
A full-time nurse sees to medication and deals with
minor ailments, fits and nursing of special care children.
A physiotherapist does three sessions per week at the
school and her treatment programmes are continued daily
by the school staff. A speech therapist visits weekly and
sees children individually and advises the teachers on speech
and language problems.
A social worker from the Hounslow Area Team has made
regular visits to the school in the past two months.

The figures in the following table show the numbers of children who attend the school from Hounslow and neighbouring boroughs.

BoysGirlsTotal
London Borough of Ealing123
Buckinghamshire County Council-11
Inner London Education
Authority-11
North Surrey-11
London Borough of Hounslow523789
Total534295

Physiotherapy is provided at the school and the number
of children seen individually increased considerably during
the year. There is a lot of scope for group treatments
mainly in an advisory capacity during sessions of music and
movement, swimming, gymnastics and apparatus, but as
only 3 sessions per week are allocated to the school there
is no time to do this work.
As a result of the monthly pre-school assessment clinics
with Dr. Harper which started in November, pre-school
children are now receiving treatment and parents are given
advice on an outpatient basis either at school or at home.
This has strengthened the multi-disciplinary approach and
has established better contact with the health visitors and
social workers concerned with the children some of whom
attend the assessment clinic and even the treatment sessions
with the speech therapist and physiotherapist attached to
the school.
As the adventure playground becomes established there
will be further scope for informal work on movement with
some of the older children.
Oaklands School
This school accommodates 62 children in the severely
subnormal range of ability.
A principal medical officer visits the school fortnightly
and the majority of children have been seen during the year.
The causes of handicap are similar to those of
Lindon-Bennett School. There are 18 children in the Special
Care Unit and seven of these are chairbound and need
constant nursing care. The full-time nurse spends most of
her time with these children but also helps the
physiotherapist with children who need daily treatment.
The speech therapist visits weekly and treats children
individually and collectively.
A medical room was added to the school at the end of
the year and the medical team look forward to using it in
the New Year.
The figures in the following table show the number of
children who attend the school from Hounslow and Ealing.
43