[Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Birkenhead County Borough.
- Birkenhead (England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1930
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1930] / Medical Officer of Health, Birkenhead County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
36/188 page 26
![Borough have been approved, and it is hoped that similar facilities to those already existing at the north end of the town will be provided. An antenatal clinic is urgently needed in this district. The need for the provision of dental treatment is increasingly evident, especially for expectant mothers, whose health is often gravely affected by bad teeth. Convalescent treatment for mothers after confinement is often urgently required but is, at present, practically unavailable. Children Act, 1908.—Work in connection with Part 1 of the Children Act, 1908, for which the Committee became responsible on the 1st April, 1930, was carried out until the end of the year by the existing Infant Life Protection Visitor, a member of the staff of the Public Assistance Committee; arrangements being made for the work to be carried out by the staff of the Medical Officer’s department from the 1st January, 1931. HEALTH OF SCHOOL CHILDEEN. Operative treatment of enlarged tonsils and adenoids—In June, 1929, an agreement w^as entered into between the Education Committee and the Birkenhead and Wirral Children’s Hospital under which children suffering from enlarged tonsils and/or adenoids received operative treatment at the hospital, treatment being carried out by the hospital’s hon. laryngologist. No child was referred for treat- ment unless the Assistant Medical Officer was satisfied, after careful examination and due consideration of all the circumstances, that the case was one for which an operation was essential. The child was then examined by the laryngologist and a date fixed for the operation. On this date the child was taken to hospital, the operation was per- formed, and the child taken home by ambulance. Full directions were given to the parents as to preparatory treatment and after care, and a Health Nurse called at the home shortly after the operation to give such advice as might be necessary. Under this agreement 163 children were treated. The agreement was terminated on the 30th June, 1930, a new arrangement having been made under which the operations are now carried out at the Birkenhead Infirmary. The procedure is substantially the same, except that the child is taken into and discharged from the Infirmary the day before and the day after the operation. The cost to the parent of the operation is 10s. 6d., which may be paid by instalments, or in necessitous cases reduced or remitted at the discretion of the Committee. Partially blind children—A special class for children suffering from a high degree of myopia, or from other defects which cause very poor vision {e.q., nystagmus), was opened on the 4th February, 1929. The r-]ass is held in tlie Park Eoad Temporary Council School, and fifr-ommodates principally children living in the south end of the Borough. It is in charge of a teacher who has had special instruction in mrlhrals of teaching y)artial]y blind children, and special books (with bold print) and apparatus are used. No near work of any description is allowed, with the exception of very brief lessons in writing in ink](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28927242_0038.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
