[Report 1960] / School Health Service, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

  • Newcastle upon Tyne (England). School Health Service.
Date:
1960
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1960] / School Health Service, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/64 (page 3)
    PREFACE To the Chairman and Members of the Education Committee Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present to you my Annual Report for the School Health Service for the year 1960, the 51st since the series began in 1907. CLINIC PREMISES AND SERVICES Satisfactory premises are essential for the comfort of the children and their parents, but also so that suitable exam¬ inations can be carried out to permit complete diagnosis of a child’s condition and then to follow up with an assessment of its educational needs. Unless new and well planned Clinics can be built, present premises should be reviewed and if, at a reasonable cost, improvements would provide some¬ thing better, they should be considered as a short term measure. On these lines it was found possible to create very adequate Speech Therapy rooms in the sub-basement of the Central Clinic, a Dental Suite on the floor above, thus leaving the ground floor for medical and administrative purposes. As the latter will shortly move to the New Town Hall, a reasonably adequate Central Clinic will soon be available. Out on the periphery much of the routine clinical work can best be carried out in schools, leaving special examinations of a more complete nature to be arranged in the peace and quiet of a newly designed clinic shared with the Child Welfare Services. Such a Clinic is being built in the Kenton area. The remaining Clinic premises throughout the City are being reviewed. Especially the Central Clinic, and as the Service develops, some of the outlying Clinics, become the meeting place of the Consultant and School Health Service staff. This link is most important as the child’s care must be the responsibility of ‘ experts all of whom have a contribution to make. Again medical diagnosis and care is incomplete in many instances unless supported by a report on family circumstances. Here the School Nurse has a part to play which is most valuable. KENTON STUDY This new approach could not have been launched without the support of the teaching staff in the area. It had its teething troubles but was beginning to develop by the end of the year. Full details are to be found in the Report. Although rarely fully staffed the Service has supplemented the dental Generai Dental Services in the City which are possibly rather more services free]y avaiiable to children than in some centres of population. The daily emergency anaesthetic service in the central Clinic has been much appreciated and meets a long felt need. The ‘ A.B.C.’ Scheme was not a com¬ plete success and will need some modifications.