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To the Chairman and Members of the Education Committee:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to present the first Report of the School
Health Service for the London Borough of Merton for the year 1965.
It should be pointed out that for the first three months of the year,
the Service was that operated by Surrey County Council as a Divisional
Service comprising three separate Divisions (Wimbledon, Merton
& Morden and Mitcham) each with its own Divisional School
Medical Officer. With effect from 1st April, 1965, the London
Borough of Merton assumed responsibility as a Local Education
Authority. Since the area itself has remained unchanged geographically,
the collation of information for the whole year has presented no
serious difficulty.
The operation of the School Health Service during the year,
however, has presented some administrative problems precipitated
by the amalgamation of three Divisions each with their three separate
systems and each with their own records comprising in all some 24,000
school children's medical records. This has inevitably caused some
dislocation in the School Health Service, but by the end of the year
most of the difficulties had been overcome, although much still requires
to be done. On the whole, in spite of difficulties of amalgamation,
the Service has run quite smoothly.
There was little change in the establishment of Medical, Dental
and Health Visiting staff employed in connection with the Service.
The principal change was the retirement of Dr. A. R. Graham, as
Divisional School Medical Officer for Mitcham, on 31st March, 1965.
School Departments now number 83 and compared with 1964,
the school population increased by 228. The percentage of school
children whose general condition was found to be satisfactory on
inspection was 99.98% compared with 99.90% in 1964, an increase
of .08%. This percentage reflects the continuing high standard of the
health of school children in this area. 14.95% of the 1965 school
population were found at routine medical inspections to require treatment
for various defects mostly minor in character compared with
16.59% of the 1964 school population.
On notification of a case of tuberculosis in a pupil, an epidemiological
survey was necessary during the year at a Secondary Boys'
School in Wimbledon. A detailed report of this survey is given on
page 83.
There was a relatively high incidence of measles and chickenpox
during the year, but apart from this there were no serious outbreaks
of infectious disease.
I am grateful for the help and co-operation received from Mr.
R. Greenwood, Chief Education Officer, and his staff, and from Head
Teachers, Teaching Staff and Secretaries of the many schools in the
area. My thanks and appreciation are also due to the Medical, Dental,
Health Visiting and other staff of the School Health Service for the
satisfactory and efficient manner in which their respective duties were
carried out in this inaugural year of the London Borough of Merton.
I should like to make special mention of the valuable work of the
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