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CO-OPERATION WITH HOSPITALS
AND GENERAL PRACTITIONERS
Close liaison has been established with hospitals and general practitioners in a variety
of ways. Joint case conferences are held when a child is presenting a complex problem, and social
workers are attached to children's clinics at University College Hospital, Moorfields, the Nuffield
Speech and Hearing Centre, and the Whittington Hospital. The fortnightly bulletin of the Health
Department, "The Health of Camden", contains information from time to time on the facilities
available in the school health service and on special educational provisions for various types of
handicapped children. It is planned to attach experienced social workers and senior medical staff
to the proposed Coram Fields Assessment Centre of the Institute of Child Health and close cooperation
is maintained between the Health Department's social workers and hospital medical
social workers.
SCHOOL ROLL
There were 21,307 children on the school roll in the Borough at the end of the year. There
are 59 schools of which 4 are special schools, and there is one special unit within an ordinary
secondary school.
MEDICAL INSPECTIONS
Routine medical inspections are held at all schools except in a small number where
selective medical examinations of seven year olds is in force. It is proposed to extend this system
of selection to other schools, where, after consultation with heads, this is considered desirable,
and other age groups will be included in the future.
Number of Medical inspections :-
Routine examinations 7,871
Special inspections 2,200
Re-inspections 3,680
13.751
Discussions have been held with head teachers on the most effective means of ensuring
that full information concerning school leavers is made available to Student Health Services and
the Appointed Factory Doctor.
TREATMENT FACILITIES
The school health service makes considerable use of treatment facilities provided by
hospitals and general practitioners, but in some instances provision is made jointly by hospitals
and the school health service and in others entirely by the school health service. In May, 1965, cooperation
between the Borough and University College Hospital was further strengthened by the
establishment of a joint hearing clinic for children. This is held monthly, the hospital providing
the premises and the services of a consultant otologist and a teacher of the deaf. The school health
service is responsible for the attendance of a school nurse trained in audiometry, a social worker,
and a peripatetic teacher of the deaf from the Education Officer's staff.
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