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37
Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic.
I am indebted to Dr. F. P. M. Clarke for the following report
on the work of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department:—
The work of the Aural Clinic during the year 1947 has proceeded
along the same lines as in previous years. The provision of the two
"treatment clinics," at Lordship Lane and Cornwall Road, to
carry out certain of the treatments prescribed has been found very
satisfactory. These branch clinics are much more convenient for
the children who live in these areas. There is less risk in their
shorter travelling on busy roads and less time lost from school.
We have found, too, during the year, that there has been a much
more regular attendance amongst the school children, to complete
their various treatments, no doubt due to the greater accessibility
of the treatment clinics.
The most noticeable among those who "lapsed treatment" or
failed to attend as requested are children under five. A probable
reason is that the conditions found in this age group comprise
chiefly nasal affections, such as catarrh, rhinitis, recurring colds,
and mild attacks of ear-ache (without discharge), which affections,
though very important to treat in their early stages, do not appear
very noticeable to the parents, and as frequently happens when the
child is improved after a few treatments, they then consider that
he is "alright " and that he does not require any further treatment.
Besides, the parent has always to attend with a child of this age
and this is not always easy for the parent, so we get here a greater
falling off in the completion of treatment than in the higher age
groups.
We have in the past stressed the importance of treatment of
any defects, particularly those of the ear or nose, in their early
stages in the early school and pre-school groups, and we wish again
to emphasise this advice. It will relieve a great deal of chronic
affections later on.
We have employed Peters tonsil suction in a large number of
cases during the year, and we are quite satisfied that this method
affords a very excellent procedure for a very large number of
"diseased tonsils'' which are usually referred for operation. The
wholesale removal of tonsils and adenoids for no other reason than
they appear large, and even this becomes a matter of opinion