[Report 1957] / School Medical Officer of Health, West Bromwich.

  • West Bromwich (England). Council.
Date:
1957
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1957] / School Medical Officer of Health, West Bromwich. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    55/60 (page 53)
    ADDITIONAL REPORTS An Alternative Method of School Medical Inspection Details of this scheme were given in Reports of my predecessor for 1954, 1955 and 1956. In particular, in the 1956 Report contrast was made between this method of inspection and the normal routine medical inspection. In conclusion, it was found that there was a number of children who had conditions requiring treatment but which did not appear to be known to the school medical officer under the alternative scheme of visiting by a school medical officer and reporting by teachers and parents. In view of this and certain changes in staff, the alternative scheme has not been proceeded with and was, in fact, not in being when I took up my duties. The experiment has shown certain things of importance ; firstly, that to carry out this type of inspection without regular routine examinations of children requires regular visiting of the schools by a medical officer, complete and thorough follow-up by the school nurse and the establishment of an extremely close liaison with the headmaster of the school. One of the first criteria necessary to operate it successfully is so often lacking, that is the experienced school medical officer who knows thoroughly both the staff and the children in the school. Equally, it cannot be said that the experiment provided complete and thorough follow-up by the school nurse of the nature which would be necessary to make it suitable as a replacement for routine examinations. In my predecessor’s Report he stated as follows : “ In view of these considerations, it would seem best to combine the two methods and thus achieve the need for more individual attention which is the express aim of a modern school health service.” It is to be hoped that at some time in the future it will be possible to do a further trial on those lines. Work Undertaken by School Nurses The following table gives a summary of the work undertaken by School Nurses during the year. Visits to Schools Routine inspections (with Medical Officer) . 230 Cleanliness surveys. 154 Other reasons (including diphtheria immunisation and B.C.G. vaccination) ... ... ... ... ... 157 Visits to Homes Because of uncleanliness For other reasons Total number of visits to schools and homes Number of children examined for cleanliness Number of children re-examined for cleanliness Number of children examined for reasons other than cleanliness ... ... ... ... ... ... 231 123 895 26,278 1,081 78