[Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Surrey County Council.

  • Surrey (England). County Council
Date:
1969
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1969] / Medical Officer of Health, Surrey County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    40/108 (page 38)
    Special Inspections and Re-examinations Although the selective system of inspection described above makes free use of medical officers’ time and encour¬ ages the putting forward of children as necessary at any time in their school career, that is not to say that this is not already done to a certain extent under the present system. Table B shows that 4,811 children were seen at special request during 1969, and the details of the defects found are given in Table D. 34.4% of these children required treatment. Apart from special inspections, a number of children with defects requiring observation are followed up at inter¬ vals varying according to their individual requirements. A total of 6,827 such re-examinations was carried out during the year. Eye Diseases, Defective Vision and Squint An improved form of vision testing by means of a self-contained portable vision screener was used on a trial basis in the South Eastern Division of the County during the year. The machine was mainly used to test the vision of 13 year old pupils in Secondary Schools. Although in the past a number of School Nurses have been using the machine for this purpose, there is now only one visiting all the Secondary Schools in the Division. The main advantage of using the machine as distinct from the test card is that it avoids all the difficulties of having to obtain the necessary distance between the test card and the child, and there is no difficulty in the matter of lighting. It would be quicker to use if a plain vision test only were undertaken, however colour vision and near vision were also tested in the trial. • The machine was also used to test the vision of pupils at a Special School for the Educationally Sub-normal, and at Infant Schools. The Health Visitors undertaking these tests found it quicker and more efficient than the usual test card. Throughout the remainder of the County routine methods of vision testing were carried out at the time of routine medical inspections and also at 13 years. Children with visual defects are followed up regularly by School Medical Officers as re-examinations and 1,222 children were seen as special cases. 8,326 children were referred to Eye Clinics (Table E (a)). Defects of the Nose and Throat This group continues to provide one of the largest individual groups of defects referred for treatment from rou¬ tine medical inspections. 858 cases were referred during 1969. A further 48 cases were referred from among children specially examined. The majority of these children were in the younger age groups (Table E (b)). Defects of the Ears including Hearing The number of children requiring treatment of otitis media in 1969 fell slightly to 105 as opposed to 138 in 1968. Over the past five years the figure has remained steadily in this region, indicating the need for continued watchfulness and careful treatment of this complaint which, when inadequately treated still constitutes a cause of defective hearing in school children. 254 children were considered to need treatment on account of defective hearing at routine inspection and a further 75 at special inspection. The majority of these were younger children whose hearing defect was associated with nose and throat conditions requiring treatment. Table G gives the result of audiometric testing of children, which is carried out as a routine on children of six years of age and as necessary at other times. Personal Hygiene Health visitors inspected a total of 31,014 individual pupils for verminous conditions during the year, and 332 were found to be infested. These children mainly represent the hard core from unsatisfactory home backgrounds where infestation of the family is a perennial problem in spite of all efforts made by the health visitors. Inspection in schools is on a selective basis, the combined knowledge of health visitors and the schools themselves formulating the policy for each individual school. Use of Nursing Staff in School Health Service The following tables show the work carried out by Health Visitors and part-time school nurses during 1969 compared with the previous year: — Health Visitors Fixed Appointments in 1969 (Comparative figures for 1968 in brackets) Preparation for Medical Inspection Medical Inspection General Medical Clinic Hygiene Teaching Other Sessions Total 834 [891] 1,463 [1,463] 201 [277] 198 [178] 517 519 [430] [531] 3,732 [3,770]