[Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough.

  • Hastings (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1971
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1971] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Educational Psychology: The value of school visits for this purpose is appreciated, the direct contact between headmasters and the psychologist is of great importance, and when necessary tests can be made and advice given informally on the spot. Speech Therapy Clinic: Miss R. Bain, L.C.S.T. reports:— The demands for speech therapy continued to increase to alarming proportions in 1971. I continued working without assistance until August when a young speech therapist from South Africa, Miss A. Thompson, came to the clinic. This was a temporary arrangement for two months but it proved to be of considerable value. Miss Thompson screened many urgent cases on the waiting list and visited some schools who had been requesting attention. I made regular visits to schools during the year, in particular: Robert Mitchell, Torfield, Hollington Infants, Mount Pleasant Infants and St. Leonards Church of England. Extra clinics were held at Cambridge Road in order to meet the growing need for intensive treatment. Three clinic sessions were also held weekly at St. Helen’s Hospital. Several home visits were also made in connection with the stroke patients attending the clinic. A detailed questionnaire concerning treatment of the adult patients was completed for the Department of Health and Social Security. The clinic at Cambridge Road was given a deserving new face when it was decorated in the spring. A collection of new chairs were also delivered for the waiting room. Contact with the child guidance staff continued to be helpful. It was decided in October that the speech therapist should attend any formal meetings with the staff when relevant cases were being discussed. The position of speech therapist was left vacant at the end of the year, when I left to work in Lewes. Attendance by children during the school holidays was remarkably good. Speech Therapy Clinic 1971: No. of cases on register 1.1.71 No. of cases admitted during 1971 No. of cases discharged during 1971 No. of patients remaining on register 88 32 272 Foot Health Clinic: A fully qualified chiropodist is employed on a sessional basis and at present dees three sessions a week throughout the year. He is kept fully occupied. Most of his work consists of treating plantar warts. During the year it has been found that incidence of plantar warts is 1-5% in primary schools, 3*5% in senior schools and none in special schools. During the year 395 new cases were treated at the foot clinic, making a total of 1,419 attendances.