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73
"At present the most usual course for a parent to
pursue in this district for having the child's defective
eyesight remedied is to devote a day to taking the child to
an Eye Hospital. The cost and trouble does not end at the
one visit, as a child can never be examined under two visits,
and it may require more. If there are several other children
it may be almost impossible for that parent to attend, quite
apart from the cost in certain cases. If the parent does
not go to the Hospital the other alternatives are to go to
the family doctor, who may or may not possess the requisite
apparatus, or failing this, to go to one of the occulists in
the town, who may or may not possess the necessary
knowledge.
In both these latter cases, of course, the cost is greater.
There is real practical difficulty in getting the defects
remedied.
In consequence I beg to recommend the following plan
to the Committee:—
That circular be sent to each Medical Practitioner
residing in Ilford, asking if he or she is prepared to examine
any school child with defective eyesight for the Education
Authority at the office of the Medical Officer of Health, and
to prescribe spectacles for a fee of three shillings (3/.). The
Council should then accept one of the offers, if a suitable
application was received. The Medical Practitioners in reply
to give some particulars of their experience in eye work.
This of course is a very small fee for this work, but if it
is so organised that the Medical Practitioner could attend
at the office one afternoon a week, or less, according to the
number of cases, I am of opinion that the remuneration