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in their first or second year had been seen, they were children in whose families there
was a strong history of deafness, and who were tested at the parent's request. It was
agreed that the time had come to undertake some publicity, particularly amongst the
doctors in the area, and to seek some way in which every health visitor could be given
training in the screening of babies and pre-school children.
In July, 1957, the Council recommended that arrangements be made for the
Council's medical officers and health visitors to attend a two-day course in
"screening tests" to be held in West Ham. Through the great kindness of Sir Alexander
and Lady Ewing who undertook this training personally, excellent arrangements were made
and they visited us for the first time in November, 1957, and subsequently at six-monthly
intervals until June, 1959, when arrangements had to be cancelled owing to Lady Ewing's
illness. These regular training sessions at six-monthly intervals have enabled us to
train, and test for efficiency, our established health visitors and to include new
recruits to the service within six months of their appointment. We are pleased that
we have now been able to arrange for Dr. Ian Taylor from the Department of Education
for the Deaf, Manchester University, to continue these sessions. His first visit to
West Ham will be in March,1960. Those health visitors who had been trained were asked
to test as many babies as possible at about nine months, but it soon became clear that
we should have to concentrate on the now well known group of "children at risk". These
are mainly children who carry an increased risk of deafness because of family history,
illness of mother during pregnancy, difficult birth, or illness in early weeks of life.
They include children whose mothers have had German measles in the early weeks of
pregnancy and those who, born to Rhesus negative mothers, have shown signs of
incompatibility. Recent surveys have shown that if this group of children is carefully
screened, it will yield 80 per cent of all the deaf children in the area.
July, 1959, was a disastrous month for the Unit for we sustained a double
grievous loss in the death of our Director, Mr. Scott, and of Lady Ewing who had both
given us so much help. For three months the meetings of the Team were suspended, but
the Audiology Unit, Gray's Inn Road, came to our rescue, and in September, 1959, Miss
Bickerton, an experienced member of their staff, became temporary Director of the Clinic.
During the three months interval we took stock of the situation and revised some
of the aspects of the scheme. An assistant medical officer with some ear, nose and
throat experience had by now received additional training in audiology, and had become
a member of the Team, so that the Senior Medical Officer could concentrate mainly on the
administrative aspects. A third health visitor has been trained in Manchester. She
shares the work of the clinic with her colleagues and is the nurse to the School for
the Deaf. The assistant medical officer referred to above undertakes the medical
supervision of the children in the School for the Deaf and sees all children from
ordinary school referred by the audiometrician. This school medical officer investigates
each child, deals with such matters as removal of wax, and refers the children for any
necessary treatment to their family doctor, or with his consent, to an Ear, Nose and
Throat Clinic. Where the impairment of hearing does not seem to be amenable to
treatment, the child is referred (with the consent of the family doctor) direct to the
Audiology Clinic, which is now held fortnightly and is available for both pre-school
and school children. The audiometrician now attends all the sessions, and audiograms
may be obtained on the spot. When hearing aids are ordered, the audiometrician makes
the moulds for the ear pieces, ready to be attached to the hearing aids, which are
ordered from the local distribution centre.
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