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THE WORK OF THE MINOR AILMENT CLINICS
There are three minor ailment clinics in the Borough:-
Balaam Street School Clinic, Open 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
Balaam Street, Plaistow, E.13. Monday to Friday
Rosetta School Clinic, -do-
Sophia Road, Custom House, E.l6.
(Closed during school vacations except for examinations by appointment).
Stratford School Clinic, -do-
84, West Ham Lane, Stratford, E.15.
(Closed during school vacations except for examinations by appointment).
A medical officer is in attendance at Stratford School Clinic and Rosetta School
Clinic on Monday and Thursday mornings, and at Balaam Street School Clinic on Tuesday and
Friday mornings. One of the main difficulties to be faced by the school medical officer
is that in the school he frequently has neither sufficient time nor suitable accommodation
to examine some children as thoroughly as he would wish. The minor ailment clinic, serving
as it does a group of schools, becomes the centre of school health work in the area and is
used for the examination of many different kinds of cases. These clinics have always been
well used for the treatment of minor ailments and, although attendances are still falling,
a large number of children come to them, referred mainly by head teachers.
The treatment of minor ailments at a school clinic is well established as one of
the most expeditious and comprehensive means of dealing with many troublesome conditions
and of preventing further impairment of health. The cases are seen by the medical
officers on their clinic sessions, and the bulk of the treatment is carried out by school
nurses. Although many of the conditions seen may be regarded as trivial, their prompt
treatment saves a good deal of minor disability and, in a number of cases, prevents a
simple lesion becoming a major one. These clinics enable children with all kinds of
minor ailments to be treated at a time and place which reduces to a minimum the loss of
school time. Continuity of treatment is ensured through the close association of this
work with the schools. The chief conditions treated fall under three main headings:-
Minor skin conditions. These include impetigo, a variety of others, and occasionally
ringworm or scabies.
Impetigo remains well controlled. The number of cases treated at the clinics this
year was 33, being a decrease of 45 on the previous year.
Ringworm of the scalp has dropped to negligible proportions, and not a single case
of this infection has been seen in our clinics during 1957.
The incidence of Scabies remains low. This year 26 cases were discovered. An
incident of 0.09 per cent, of the school population compared with 0.04 per cent, in 1956.
In 1954, however, only one case was discovered: the lowest ever recorded. The increase
during the last three years shows that vigilance must be continued. Scabies is treated
at the Stock Street Treatment Centre, Plaistow, E.13.
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