[Report 1920] / School Medical Officer of Health, Hyde Borough.

  • Hyde (Cheshire, England). Borough Council.
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1920] / School Medical Officer of Health, Hyde Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    also send and receive back the forms with reference to previous ailments. The latter are given to the School Medical Inspector, who fills in the information on the front of the card. The Head Teacher attends at the Medical Inspection and gives help with information where necessary as to each child, especially in respect to general capacity, habits, etc. (2) The teachers, so far, have not been approached with reference to “ following up,” this work being in the hands of the S.M O. and Nurse. (3) The teacher is informed as to those cases which are to attend the Clinic, and facilitates this work. Especially as regards the pointing out of ” Specials ” the work of the teacher is most helpful. Co=operation of School Attendance Officers. During my first year (1920) the following arrangements were made :—Each forenoon the S.M.O. provides the two Attendance Officers with a list of those children excluded the same day at the Clinic by the S.M.O., or at the schools by the S.M.O. or Head Teachers. A statement is given as to the system affected, together with the next date on which the child is to be examined at the Clinic. Every child attending the Clinic has two cards. One of these—a green card—is kept by the child, and the white card is kept by the S.M.O. at the Clinic. The green card contains the date when first seen, and the date when next due. When the child is excluded a cross is put on this green card, but when the child is not excluded there is merely a tick. By glancing at the green card the Head teacher or S.A.O. can tell when the child is due back at the Clinic, and whether the child is excluded. The white card kept at the Clinic states the name of the disease and treatment, together with dates, exclusion cross, or attendance tick. A further mark is put on the white card to differentiate between purely Special Clinic cases and cases referred from Medical Inspection for observation. The S.A.O. is given daily a list of cases re-admitted to school through the Clinic, and also is given information from the Town Hall as to notified cases as to infectious disease. Each S.A.O has tn his possession the pamphlet on Notes on the Common Infectious and Contagious Diseases, a reference to which enables him to define and check the date on which a case is due back in school. Where an excluded case fails to return to the Clinic on the date due back, the case is discussed by the S.A.O. and S.M.O., and appropriate action taken. On coming to his notice, as an advance, I have asked the School Attendance Officers to give me information as to any case of non-notifiable infectious disease they ascertain. Co=operation of Voluntary Bodies. The local representatives of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children keeps in close touch with the Nurse in the case of neglected children. In the one case in which I gave evidence the parents were fined £10 and £5 respectively. Blind, Deaf, Defective, and Epileptic Children. Review of the methods adopted for ascertaining and dealing with children who are defective within the meaning of the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act, 1893, and the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act, 1899 and 1914, and of the adequacy of such methods. In the first place several copies of Table HI. (Numerical Return of all Exceptional Children in the area in 1920), Appendix “G,” were made, and one was sent to each Head Teacher or Departmental Head Teacher, and also one to each of the two Attendance Officers. Very valuable information was thus obtained, and this was added to the list provided by the Secretary of Education. Further, with the great extension of School Clinic work which