[Report 1950] / School Medical Officer of Health, Salop / Shropshire County Council.

  • Shropshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1950] / School Medical Officer of Health, Salop / Shropshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The obligation of the Local Education Authority to provide facilities for free medical treat¬ ment is now almost entirely discharged by utilising the facilities provided under the National Health Service Act, 1946. Children found to be in need of treatment, or of specialist advice, because of defects ascertained during the course of Routine Medical Inspection or attendance at a School Clinic are referred, according to the nature of the defect, to the hospitals, particulars of which are given on page 23 of this report, all of which come under the Birmingham Regional Hospital Board. As the Ministry of Education have asked for particulars of the School Clinics provided by the Local Education Authority, these have also been included in this report on pages 23 and 24. Treatment of Eye Conditions.—In order to secure treatment for children with defective vision or affections of the eye, advantage is taken as far as possible of the Hospital and Specialist Services provided by the Regional Hospital Board. Before the passing of the National Health Service Act, however, the Local Education Authority had made arrangements for eye climes, abended by specialists, to be held from time to time in certain areas in the County from which access to out-patient departments of hospitals was difficult ; and in the Market Drayton and Ludlow areas these arrangements have been continued as Supplementary Ophthalmic Services. During 1950, under Supplementary Ophthalmic Service arrangements, 12 children were examined in Market Drayton and 102 in Ludlow—a total of 114. Tonsils and Adenoids.—The following is an extract from the Report of the Education Welfare Sub-Committee to the Education Committee on 28th January, 1950 : “There is a long and serious delay in carrying out tonsil operations. Parents of children who need extraction of tonsils learn that a delay of the order of eighteen months is probable even where it is desirable that the operation should be performed soon.” The position with regard to the treatment of school children can perhaps most clearly and simply be represented by the following tabular statement which covers the period from 1937 to 1950 Year Referred for Treatment Operations performed Operations performed expressed as percentage of cases referred for treatment Percentage of children examined Actual cases 1937 4.0 428 421 98 1938 4.7 463 393 S5 1939 3.2 314 336 107 1940 3.6 412 321 7S 1941 4.3 542 317 58 1942 4.5 402 383 95 1943 3.6 298 245 82 1944 4.2 441 362 82 1945 2.7 328 300 91 1946 3.9 537 249 46 1947 4.2 520 333 64 1948 4.9 821 795 96 1949 4.5 702 568 81 1950 4.8 622 347 56