[Report 1970] / School Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Man.

  • Isle of Man. Council.
Date:
1970
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1970] / School Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Man. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PRELIMINARY The proposed re-organisation of the National Health Service in Eng- land contains no specific recommendations in respect of the school health service and discussions continue on how and by whom the service (will be administered. Whatever conclusions are drawn in England may well affect the future of the school health service in the Isle of Man and serious consideration will have to be given to any recommendations made. If the National Health Service is re-organised to include public health services, the school health service, will have to be included so that essential co-ordination is achieved. In the Isle of Man, the school health service already exists as a comprehensive children’s service and includes pre- school children as well as adolescents and schoolchildren and there is every reason why it should continue to exist as the specialised service it is no matter who exercises overall control. The children’s psychiatric service under the control of the consultant psychiatrist continued to be held at the Murray’s Road clinic at weekly intervals. The team which at present consists of a psychiatrist and a social worker is short of the services of an educational psychologist who could make a valuable contribution to the case conferences on the children referred for treatment. There is a national shortage of educational psychologists and although arrangements have already been made to make an appointment, further difficulties are likely to be encountered before the vacancy is filled. More than half the children seen at the psychiatric clinic were of primary school age and were referred by their own doctors or the school medical officers because of behaviour or educational problems such as failure to progress in school. Emotional disorders and failure to adjust socially are problems which are not confined entirely to teenagers and early recognition of behaviour disorders and prompt treatment combined with understanding and sympathy is of prime importance if serious long- term problems and failure in school are to be avoided, Problem children are found in both the infants and junior schools and one wonders whether lax parental discipline before the child is old enough for school followed by a tendency to opt out of responsibility and leave it to the teacher as soon as the child starts school may not be responsible in some measure and in some cases. The problem of plantar warts (verrueae) has been referred to in previous reports. Plantar warts, like all other varieties of wart, are caused by a virus infection and although they can be very troublesome and can have a high nuisance value, there is no evidence that they have any com- plications. There is, however, evidence to show that their incidence has increased on the Island as well as nationally and this is not surprising as children are frequently infected at swimming baths and since the two new swimming baths opened here the number of children swimming has grown. Many methods of treatment have been tried in the past and the use of a special plaster cap was introduced at the school clinics this year in an effort to reduce the incidence of infection and also to lessen the time taken to effect a cure. The plaster cap method is relatively pain- less for the patient and is also less time consuming for the school nurse. Until they are cured, patients are forbidden swimming and the baths managers in both Ramsey and Douglas have been most co-operative in
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