[Report 1957] / School Medical Officer of Health, Southampton County Borough.

  • Southampton (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1957
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1957] / School Medical Officer of Health, Southampton County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/44 (page 4)
    To the Chairman and Members of the Education Committee of the County Borough of Southampton. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present my Annual Report upon the School Health Service in Southampton for the year 1957. This report, which is my twenty-seventh, marks the Jubilee year in the series since the inauguration of the School Health Service. Section 13 of the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907 made it obligatory for all Education Authorities to provide for medical inspection of children in elementary schools. This Act, which came in to operation on the 1st January 1908, required “entrants” and “leavers” to receive medical inspection. In point of fact, because many of the children seen at medical inspection did not have defects remedied through the family doctor. Local Authorities were, under the Education Act, 1918, obliged to provide clinic services for the purpose of ensuring that the many conditions, such as ear, nose and throat, dental, orthopaedic, ophthalmic etc., receive treatment. In making a comparision between the 1908 statistics and with those of 1957, it is interesting to note that there is an average increase of 5 lbs. in the weight of boy entrants and an average gain of 3 lbs. in girl entrants. Regarding the height of school entrants, the boys show an increase of approx. U inches and the girls an increase of approx. 1 inch. The increases in both heights and weights appear to be maintained throughout the school life of these children. The incidence of head uncleanliness also shows, in 1908, that out of 3,369 children examined, 222 (6.6 per cent) were found to require attention whereas in 1957 there were 443 (.6 per cent) cleansing notices issued as a result of 70,931 examinations. The present procedure is that clinic assistants carry out cleanliness examinations at the beginning of each term at each school, and every child found with a head infestation is excluded from school for twenty-four hours, the parents being given advice as to treatment for the condition. Routine medical inspections which are arranged in three age groups (entrants, juniors aged 11 years and leavers) progressed favourably during the year. All primary and secondary (modern) schools received a visit by a School Medical Officer with the exception of Thornhill Junior Mixed and Sholing Secondary Girls’ schools. The former was not visited on account of the school only being opened in September 1957. At Sholing Secondary school the Head Teacher requested the medical inspection to be deferred until the first term in 1958 owing to re-organisation at the time.