[Report 1912] / School Medical Officer of Health, Cardiff County Borough & Port.

  • Cardiff (Wales). County Borough & Port Council.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1912] / School Medical Officer of Health, Cardiff County Borough & Port. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Certain diseases are compulsorily notifiable to the Medical Officer of Health under the pro- visions of the Infectious Disease (Notification) Act, 1889 ; of these scarlet fever and diphtheria are by far the most common. Measles and whooping cough occur in epidemics of more or less severity at intervals of a few years, and on these occasions prevail much more extensively and produce a much higher moitality amongst school children than the notifiable diseases. The information obtainable of the non-notifiable infectious diseases, and of other disorders amongst scholars, is therefore not altogether complete. To meet this difficulty the following plan is carried out in this district. The Head Teachers of Elementaly Schools are supplied with forms upon which they forward to the School Medical Officer the names and addresses of all children absent on account of illness, except those suffering from the notifiable diseases and who have already been notified to them by the Medical Officer of Health. A School Nurse forthwith pays a visit to the address given in order to ascertain the cause of absence, and, if necessary, to advise medical treatment. The School Attendance Officers work in co-operation with the Medical Officer’s Department, and take the necessary steps to secure attendance when there is no sufficient cause for the absence of the child. In most cases the alleged cause of absence from school is illness. When this is found to be the case, these officers either obtain a medical certificate from the practitioner attending the patient, or refer the child to the School Medical Officer for special inspection. The School Teachers have, as usual, taken great interest in the medical inspection of children under their care, and their co-operation has been of great service in facilitating the work of the Medical Inspectors. Mr. J. Perkins, the Superintendent School Attendance Officer, and his staff have co-operated with the School Medical Officers in every possible way. It will be seen that the functions of the School Nurse correspond closely with those of the Attendance Officer, and, indeed, some Education Authorities have found it advisable to appoint trained School Nurses as Attendance Officers. There are obvious advantages in this arrangement, as nearly always the alleged cause for non-attendance at school is illness, and the Nurse engaged in following up cases recommended for treatment, who is on the staff of the School Medical Service, is in a better position to deal with such non-attendance than an Attendance Officer, who may not be acquainted with all the circumstances cf each case. In “ following up ” the Nurse has to visit the homes of those children who are absent, and it seems an unnecessary overlapping for another official to visit the same house on a similar errand. In such cases it would be necessary, of course, for the Nurse to be in close touch with the Chief School Attendance Officer, in order to arrange the details and to secure the necess- ary evidence in the event of the Education Authority deciding to institute legal proceedings against the parents for non-attendance. Arrangements for Attending to the Health and Physical Condition of School Children. Tables XII—XIV. in this report indicate generally the extent to which it has been found possible to procure medical treatment for those children found on medical inspection to require such treatment. From these it will be seen that from one cause or another many ailments or defects do not receive effective treatment, or are altogether neglected by the parents or guardians of the affected children. Amongst these conditions, defective vision, carious teeth, disorders of throat and nose, and ringworm assume a prominent place. The methods which are adopted with a view of procuring such treatment are briefly as follows :—If during the routine medical inspection upon the school premises, the Medical Inspectors find scholars suffering from any defects or disorders requiring medical treatment, the parents and school teachers are notified of the fact upon printed notices. If necessary, the affected child is excluded temporarily from school. If no attention is paid to the notice, the School Nurse visits the parents to ascertain the cause of the neglect, and to urge upon them the necessity of obtaining treatment. Such visits have frequently to be repeated. The same process is carried out at the Inspection Clinic at the City Hall, where children referred for special examination attend once a week. But in this case, the sanction of the Board of Education has been obtained for the treatment of minor ailments by the School Nurses under medical supervision. Discharges from the throat, nose and ear, contagious skin disorders, sores, and bruises are treated, and in this way many disorders are ultimately dealt with.
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