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THE IMPACT OF THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE ACT ON
THE SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE.
Ten years have passed since the inception of the National Health Service and this
may be an appropriate time to review the extent to which it has affected the School Health
Service which is its senior by about forty years.
One soon comes to the conclusion that a straightforward assessment of this subject
is by no means easy. It is difficult to say which developments in the School Health Service
since 1948 were a direct result of the introduction of the National Health Service and which
came about through natural evolution, and were the result of developments in science and
advances in medicine. No doubt the availability of all hospital and general practitioner
services free of charge has broadened the scope of the School Health Service giving greater
facilities for thorough investigation of children's ailments and their treatment, and
better liaison and co-operation with doctors in other fields of the Health Services. The
free general practitioner service is perhaps the most important factor in relation to the
impact of the National Health Service Act on the School Health Service, and necessitated
a re-orientation on the part of the school medical officers who could now refer their
pupils to the family doctor without hesitation because of financial considerations. The
general practitioner has rightly demanded that he be consulted in all matters of treatment,
and that no patient of his be referred to a hospital specialist without his consent. This
principle and procedure is now generally and quite rightly observed.

The decline in numbers is very striking. However, the decline has not been abrupt
as might have been expected had the introduction of the free medical care been the only
factor having a bearing on the figures. The decline has been a steady one over the past
10 years.
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