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SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE 1968
INTRODUCTION
17.1 Please see paragraph 16.1, which applies also to the report which follows.
SCHOOL ROLL
17.2 22,379 children were on the school roll (I.L.E.A. and grant-aided schools only).
There were in Camden 69 schools, of which 3 were nursery schools and 4 were special
schools, and there was 1 special unit within a comprehensive school.
17.3.1 STAFF
1968 1967
Medical 5.70 5.80
Nursing 19.40 18.30
Speech Therapists
(centrally directed) 2.30 2.30
Social Workers 2.70 2.70
Physiotherapists
(Special School) 4.00 4.00
These figures indicate very little variation in the numbers of staff engaged in
school health service duties.
17.3.2 A major shock was the sudden death of Miss Violet Williams, a school nurse who
gave loyal and devoted service for many years. "Sister" Williams was a friend to many,
especially to those connected in any way with the audiology service. She was a regular
and welcome visitor to all the schools in Camden in connection with screening tests for
hearing.
MEDICAL INSPECTIONS
17.4.1
1968
1967
Routine Examinations
7,582
7,974
Special Examinations
2,815
2,664
Re-inspections
4,228
4,028
No. of medical inspections
per 1,000 pupils
631
655
17.4.2 Trends in the school health field are aptly summarized in the Department of
Education and Science Bulletin No.25 on secondary school design as follows:-
"The type of medical work that is developing in many schools goes far beyond
mere medical inspections. This is bound to increase as the inter-connection between the
physical and the mental are more fully understood and as more pupils stay on to 18 years
of age with all the resulting problems of adjustment to adult life. The pattern is changing,
and whereas in the past the school doctor, dentist and nurse were occasionally visitors
from the outside world in order to inspect, report and repair, in the future their role is
likely to become more positive and more closely involved with the life of each child.
Doctors and nurses will be concerned to study health as well as the diagnosis and
treatment of ill-health, and they will become increasingly involved with health education.
The precise implications of this are not at present easy to define".
17.4.3 This is especially true of the large comprehensive schools, which are found to
demand a considerable amount of medical and nursing time, as much for the discussion
of individual problems which do not in all cases merit special educational provision, and
for health education material to cover such topics as personal relationships and drug
taking, as for routine inspections. Consideration is being given to the employment of a
male school nurse who could give real assistance in the type of counselling sessions
which would help the older boys in large secondary schools. Again at the time of school
leaving the medical officers find themselves more involved than in the past in discussion
with the careers officers to try to find suitable occupations, especially for handicapped
children in ordinary schools.
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