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The attendances at the various olinics do not change much from year to year and
have not done so over the last ten years. This year attendances of infants and of preschool
children are slightly lower than last year. Now that artificial feeding is
ciropler and the general standard of maternal care and knowledge has improved, it is no
longer necessary for mothers to bring babies to the clinics so frequently for weighing,
though it is still advisable for the baby to be seen several tiroes in his first year
to assess his progress and development. We are trying to move away from "routine"
weighing of every baby at each attendance and have introduced "weighing units" at the
centres. This unit, shown in the photograph, looks like an extension of the health
visitor's desk when closed, but opens to reveal the scales. This will do away with
the need to have a special person at the clinic to weigh babies, and with the queues
of mothers waiting for their babies to be weighed. Each health visitor, when
interviewing the mother, will decide whether it is advisable to weigh the baby, taking
into consideration the wishes of the mother and of the doctor.
The "easing of communication" referred to last year has been extended. The
Maternal and Child Health Section now has regular fortnightly staff meetings. These are
attended by the two administrative medical officers, the three senior nursing officers
and the lay administrative officer for Maternal and Child Health and his deputy. These
meetings save a lot of time which would otherwise be spent on the circulation of files
and the writing of memoranda within the section. It enables the medical, nursing, and
administrative aspects of any project or report to be considered simultaneously, and
the results of this informal type of consultation have been found to be highly satisfactory.
On occasion the Medical Officer of Health, the Chief Administrative Assistant or
the Finance and Establishment Officer have joined us, and we are grateful for their
guidance.
Regular conferences between the Education and Health Departments are held before
each meeting of the Special Services Sub-Committee, to consider children who are
backward in school and may be in need of special educational treatment, or who are of
such low intelligence that they may have to be considered ineducable. The conferences
are held between the Inspector for Senior and Special Schools, the Educational
Psychologist and the Teacher of the Gumey School for Educationally Sub-Normal
Children, and sometimes the Inspector of Junior and Nursery School on the one hand, and
the Senior Medical Officer and a medical officer from the Health Department on the other.
As far as possible the medical officer is the one who will conduct the formal examination
of the child should this become necessary. Before the conference each child has been
tested by the Educational Psychologist and has had a general medical examination,
including testing of the urine for phenylketonuria, an audioroetric test and a vision test.
Teachers reports and the health visitor's report on the home are available. Frequently
specialists reports (e.g. Child Guidance or Neurologist's report) have also been obtained.
There is, therefore, a considerable amount of information about the child which is pooled
and carefully weighed up before a recommendation is made by the conference.
Each term a meeting is held at Gurney Special School to consider the children who
will shortly be leaving school. The child's abilities and his environment are reviewed
by the Head Teacher, the Educational Psychologist, the Medical Officer to the school and
the Senior Medical Officer. The main point to be decided is whether, in the interest of
the child, the conference should recommend that he be reported to the Local Health
Authority as needing supervision after leaving school. Sometimes however, other
recommendations are made. It may be that another year at school or some other training
is advisable, or occasionally, admission to a hostel or institution seems the wisest
course.
The Senior Medical Officer would like to thank most sincerely all those people,
both in and outside the Maternity and Child Health Section, who have enabled the
Service to function harmoniously and effectively.
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