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more accurate blood test which detects a wider range of
biochemical abnormalities
All babies also have their hearing screened in the first year
of life and up to quite recently this has been carried out around
the age of one. We now feel this is best performed when the
baby is six months old, and we are planning to bring this test
forward to that age in the future. If hearing is impaired, language
and speech are both affected and the child often suffers permanent
handicap. It is most important to make sure that hearing
defects are treated early. As four out of five babies are brought
to our centres during the first year of life, it is relatively easy
to see that screening tests such as these are carried out, but
as children get older, attendances fall off, so that at two years
of age when we hope to test for visual defects, only two out of
five children are still visiting the centres. This is one of the
reasons why so many school children, when they are first seen
at infants' school, are found to be suffering from squint, the
treatment of which at this stage is often only partly successful.
I should very much like to see many more children between two
and five attending our centres.
The sacred cow of regular routine weighing of babies comes
in for some criticism, the Committee feeling that unless medically
indicated a child should only be weighed at its first
attendance, and thereafter at yearly intervals. They also concluded
that height increase was of more significance than
weight gain, and this should be recorded annually. I hope here
in Redbridge we can persuade mothers to accept less frequent
weighing when their babies are obviously healthy. Also,
whenever possible, I should like to see appointments offered
to mothers of young children who wish to see the doctor. This
would save much waiting and overcrowding of premises, and
during the coming year I hope to see more of our centres
adopting this practice.
One of the most important and valuable functions of health
service centres is the help given by medical staff to families
with emotional problems, presenting usually as a problem
involving the child and mother. It is of the utmost Importance
that doctors, and indeed all our staff, can see parents and
children in a relaxed atmosphere. Many problems of this nature
can be handled by the staff attached to the centre — others may
need to be referred to specialist services. In many cases,
simply listening and discussion can lead to lessening of
tensions in the family. Much good work of this type is at present
being carried out, but with better premises and increased
privacy, more can still be done. Here again, an appointments