[Report 1950] / School Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Man.

  • Isle of Man. Council.
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1950] / School Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Man. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/28 (page 8)
    It is interesting to note that after the introduction of the National Health Service in July, ]948, there was a slight drop in the attend- ances at the Clinics during 1949 (the first full year after the introduction of the National Health Service) the number then being 3.720; but that during 1950 the number showed an increase of 1,264. Tho Clinics continued as in the previous year, but it is hoped during 1951 that the .Minor Ailment Clinic ait Laxey will be carried out by one of the School Nurses, instead of—as in the past— by the District Nurse. VISUAL DEFECTS AND EXTERNAL EYE DISEASE. It is regretted that Mr, Brodrick was unable to visit the Island during 1950. and arrangements were made by Dr. Soutar for Dr. de Courcy. who is now living on the Island and was formerly on the Honorary Staff °f St. Paul's Eye Hospital, Liverpool, to see special cases. 50 cases were submitted to Dr. de Courcy for eye examination during (he course of the year. Of these 3 were for congenital cataract, 26 for squint 10 of these being pre-school children. 11 were for defective vision. 8 of which were school and 3 pre-school children, and 10 other cases. Operation cases, as in the past, were seen at St. Paul's Eye Hospital. Liverpool, and during the year Mr. Brodrick performed six operations— five for squint and one for congenital cataract. The number of refractive errors dealt with by the School Medical Officer totalled 237. Of these 122 were tested by retinoscopy and 115 previously tested by retinoscopy, w'ere re-tested by the subjective method There was unfortunately, a gap of almost three months between the retirement of Dr. Soutar and the appointment of a new School Medical Officer, during which time urgent cases were referred to Dr. de Courcy. It will be noted thatt 231 pairs of glasses were ordered during the year and that 357 pairs of glasses were received—a large number of these having been ordered during 1949. Only about 40 children were awaiting receipt of their glasses at the end of the year. A perusal of the report for 1949 shows that the average time elapsing between the ordering of glasses and their receipt was approximately 64 months. The waiting time during 1950 has decreased considerably, and although there was some delay with the supply of the more complicated lenses, there are very few children for whom glasses have been ordered who have not received them. In the early part of the year the delay was about 5 months, but by the end of the year the average delay was less than 6 weeks. As in previous years, opticians have been most helpful and co- operative and very appreciative of the fact that children w'ith eye defects are worthy of some priority when glasses are ordered. EAR, NOSE AND THROAT DEFECTS. Owing to the outbreak of Infantile Paralysis in 1949, only 27 Ear, Nose and Throat operations were done in that year. Consequently there were a number of cases which were recommended for operation during 1949 which were not done during that year and which were carried for- ward to 1950. Fortunately there was no outbreak of Infantile Paralysis during 1950 and it was possible for all the arrears of operations to be