[Report 1948] / School Medical Officer of Health, Worcestershire / County of Worcester County Council.

  • Worcestershire (England). County Council.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / School Medical Officer of Health, Worcestershire / County of Worcester County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/64 (page 12)
    Number of Pupils for whom spectacles were (a) Prescribed (b) Obtained 1025 1,092 The Ministry of Education in Circular 179 (4th August, 1948) stated that the National Health Service will cause financial and structural changes in the School Health Service and the Special School system. The Ministry of Health advised that the Regional Hospital Board (R.H.B.) will, in agreement with Local Education Author¬ ities (L.E.A.) assume administrative and financial responsibility for all arrangements which in their opinion fall within the scope of their functions and are necessary for the discharge of their duties to provide hospital and specialist services. The R.H.B. may make available for a L.E.A. without pay¬ ment, the part-time services of a whole-time specialist in the Board’s service, but the L.E.A. may provide directly with the aid of a grant, any additional specialist service for school-children. It has been the practice in the past for the eye service to be undertaken by specialists appointed by the L.E.A. During the past year this practice has continued and service has been eminently satisfactory though the supply of spectacles has been most unsatis¬ factory. Whether the introduction of specialists employed by the R.H.B. and the provision of spectacles through the supplementary Ophthalmic Services of the Executive Councils will be equally satisfactory is open to doubt. The proposed new scheme must be given a fair trial. It is presumed that it will be some time before the R.H.B. specialists will be staffing the specialist eye clinics. There is no doubt that “ priority ” of supply of glasses should be given to special cases so recommended by the ophthalmic specialist. It would appear that there is a conflict in purpose between the power to reclaim the cost for the supply of an appliance through neglect on the patients’ part under the National Health Service Act, 1946 and Section 48 (3) of the Education Act which states that medical treatment for school children attending maintained schools shall be free of cost. Minor Ailments and Diseases of the Skin. The incidence of ringworm of the scalp continues to be very low though the incidence of impetigo and other skin diseases is much the same as last year. A number of scabies cases have been diag¬ nosed and treated but there is an appreciable decrease in the inci¬ dence of this contagious disease. There were no major outbreaks of skin affections. The Minor Ailments Clinics continue to serve a very useful function, and at the same time prevent the overcrowding of the surgeries of general practitioners who have more serious cases to treat.