London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Brent 1972
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Brent]
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44
PROTECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS
Vaccination against tuberculosis continued to be offered to 13-year-old pupils attending both maintained
and independent schools. After the parent's consent has been obtained a simple skin test is administered
to determine whether or not the child needs protection. If the skin reacts to the test it usually means the
child has developed some immunity, but all such cases are investigated at the Mass X-ray Unit or Chest
Clinic.
During 1972, the testing of school entrants, at the age of five years was also continued throughout
the Borough. In all cases where a reaction was noted the child was referred to the Chest Clinic.
The table below gives the number of children tested and vaccinated:—
| Leavers | ||
|---|---|---|
| (i) Number of children whose parents were approached | 2,481 | |
| (ii) Number of children tested | 2,038—82.14% | |
| (iii) Number of those in (ii) negative to Heaf Tests | 1,725—84.64% | |
| (iv) Number of those in (iii) B.C.G. vaccinated | 1.633—94.66% | |
| (v) Percentage of Vaccination to (i) above) | 65.82% | |
| (i) Number skin tested | 3,538 | |
| (ii) Number positive | 168— 4.74% | |
| (iii) Number negative | 3,291—93.01% | |
CONVALESCENT TREATMENT
Thirteen children were recommended for recuperative holidays under Section 28 of the National
Health Service Act, 1946, for which the Education Authority accepted responsibility. These arrangements
are made on the recommendation of the School Medical Officer or General Practitioner in respect of children
who have been found to be in poor health o r suffering from a disability for which a holiday is considered to
be an essential part of the recuperative treatment. In no way are they intended to provide annual holidays for
children whose parents are unable to do so.
Details of illness and length of stay are given below:—
| Diagnosis | No. of children | Length of Stay |
|---|---|---|
| Debility | 4 | 2 weeks |
| Diabetes | 3 | „ |
| Frequent upper respiratory infections | 1 | „ |
| Epileptic | 5 | |
| Total | 13 | - |
AUDIOMETRY
The routine testing by pure tone audiometer of every school child's hearing continued. A "sweep"
test is carried out in the first instance in school routinely at the ages of 6, 9 and 13 years. In addition new
entrants, particularly those from overseas for whom no previous records are available are tested at the earliest
opportunity irrespective of age. Failures are retested at clinics under more favourable conditions. Children
failing the second test are then referred to School Medical Officers for further investigation.
Special cases (for example children who fail to develop proper speech, fail without apparent reason
to make progress at school) are tested at the clinics at the request of Medical Officers, Speech Therapists,
Educational Psychologists and Head Teachers.
A table showing the numbers dealt with during the year is given below, the figures for 1971 in
brackets.