[Report 1961] / School Medical Officer of Health, Salop / Shropshire County Council.

  • Shropshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1961
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1961] / School Medical Officer of Health, Salop / Shropshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    methods of treatment that are much more effective. Many of these virus infections appear to occur in younger (pre-school) age groups, and the old surgery of desperation for chronic otitis media has disappeared. The Ear, Nose and Throat Specialists saw 134 children referred to them in 1961. The figure of 543 operations on Shropshire school-children for the removal of tonsils and adenoids performed in hospitals of Hospital Management Committee Groups 15 and 16 and in some out-County hospitals includes an unascertainable number of children attending schools (private and indepen¬ dent) not maintained by the Local Education Authority and who are, therefore, outside the scope of the School Health Service. Orthopaedic Defects.—There are nine Orthopaedic After-care Clinics in Shropshire attended by an Orthopaedic Specialist and an Orthopaedic Nurse. During 1961, of 13,874 pupils seen at routine medical inspections, the following were noted as suffering from varying degrees of orthopaedic defect and, where treatment was considered necessary, referred to the Orthopaedic Surgeon: Treatment Observation Posture .. .. 7 146 Feet .. .. 52 268 Other . . .. 71 438 Mr. G. K. Rose, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital, Gobowen, and at the Royal Salop Infirmary, Shrewsbury, comments upon notable changes in the treatment of Scoliosis (deformity of the spine): “A far better understanding of the biological treatment of this condition, as opposed to the mechanical treatments used hitherto, is being achieved. In general, whereas methods have been tried to bend the bones back into shape, the modern practice is to stop the areas of overgrowth by fusion of the epiphyses so that differential growth will occur which corrects the deformity”. Care of the Feet.—Foot inspections are carried out by the School Medical Officers of pupils in attendance at Grammar, Technical, Modern and Senior Schools, usually in conjunction with routine medical inspections. Strong representations by a Consultant Dermatologist caused us in September, 1958, to review Plantar Warts. Not infrequently the spread of these and of Athlete’s Foot is ascribed to educational activities such as the bare foot dancing approved by the Physical Education Depart¬ ment, and to swimming baths. In fact, much of the evidence, although conflicting, hardly supports these views. Special efforts were made to try to assess some facts. The introduction of regular inspections of the feet of all pupils in attendance revealed at first a disquieting lack of ordinary social cleanli¬ ness. As the feet are normally covered, any skin conditions are liable to be neglected until infection is well established. In addition, lack of early treatment may result in infection being passed on to others. Plantar warts (also known as verruca plantaris) are accepted as a manifestation of a general wart infection in the community and are caused by a virus. Development, often in multiple form, on the sole of the foot is often painful, since the warts cannot grow out of the surface because of pressure. Investigations into the incidence of this condition have shown that this is higher in girls than in boys and increases with age in both sexes.