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The importance of the early detection of hearing defect is paramount in the proper
assessment of a child's learning ability and progress in school. Deafness to
sounds of certain frequency can be the cause of poor progress simply because the
child does not hear all that is said and may also be responsible for defective
speech.
The importance of the detection of emotional disturbance in school
children in connection with the prevention of mental illness in later life is
well recognised. School medical officers and health visitors are well aware of
the need to obtain treatment for pupils showing signs of behavious^ problems
and 89 children were found to be in need of observation or treatment for
psychological instability. The routine visits of educational psychologists
to schools to see children referred to them by teachers on account of learning
difficulty are also valuable in this respect.
Health education work in schools needs to be extended and accepted
as an essential part of school curricula. In "The Health of the School Child 1962
and 1963" the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Education and Science
writes:
"Health Education is no longer confined to an elementary study of
hygiene; it is concerned with emotional and social, as well as the physical
factors that influence health in its widest meaning. Also teachers are coming
to realise the help that school doctors and nurses can give them in this work
and that together they will have more influence with children and their parents".
There is little doubt that many parents and teachers are unable or
unwilling to provide their children with knowledge of the working of their
own bodies that earlier maturity and modem conditions require. Sex education
should be incorporated in schemes for general education in healthy living
if it is not to assume undue proportions in the minds of the pupils; in many
cases help needs to be given to parents to enable them to educate their own
children in these matters. Children at an ever-diminishing age are being placed
in situations with which they are, through lack of knowledge and experience,
ill-equipped to deal. Health education has a large part to play in helping to
avoid the consequences of this situation.
Environmental Health
The incorporation of the Public Health Departments of the three
previous Authorities responsible for environmental health services into a
larger department having also responsibility for transferred services, should
not be allowed to detract from the continuing importance of this section of the
work. A detailed account by the Chief Public Health Inspector appears in the
appropriate part of this report, from which it will be seen that the work of the
public health inspectors has also expanded to include functions hitherto carried
out by the County Council. Arrangements have also been made with the Greater
London Council for the latter to carry out work on an agency basis where this
is in the best interests of the Borough.
The closer association of those responsible for environmental health
and personal health services has already had many advantages; it is hoped that
these will continue and increase in the future.
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