[Report 1958] / School Medical Officer of Health, Carlisle City.

  • Carlisle (England). City Council.
Date:
1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1958] / School Medical Officer of Health, Carlisle City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    All the Specialist Clinics are staffed by nurses and clerical staff of the Department and only the Consultants are officers of the Regional Hospital Board. Children attending such clinics are not subjected to the fear they may have of visiting a hospital and they are also prevented from becoming too hospital minded. Moreover, the Local Education Authority staff is relatively stable and the children and possibly their parents are well known. The nurses and others can supply information not only about the home background but also about the school situation, and a consultation at the clinic, in spite of the absence of an X-ray plant and pathological labora- tory, is of gi'eat value. Children, moreover, are not crowded out as they might well be in a busy hospital out-patient department, and the integration of the Specialist Clinics in the School Health Service is of particular value when dealing with handicapped children who may require special educa- tional treatment, e.g., the child with defective vision, the deaf child, and the maladjusted child all require a very close co-operation between medical and educational staff in the treatment of the condition. At the School Clinic sessions special attention can be paid to the child who needs a modi- fication of the educational programme or whose time of treat- ment has to be adjusted to the needs of his school curriculum and examinations. The cost of providing the clinics, the nurses and the clerical,staff falls on the Local Education Authority, but this small outlay is well worth while when one considers the value which accrues to the children by being able to have the specialist consultation in “ their own clinic.” Children from non-maintained schools are welcomed at the Specialist Clinics provided they have been referred by a general practitioner. W