[Report 1951] / School Medical Officer of Health, Nottingham City.

  • Nottingham (England). City Council.
Date:
1951
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1951] / School Medical Officer of Health, Nottingham City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/48 (page 5)
    It happened that the examinations of the 7-8 year-olds (non-statutory group) took place mostly in the middle two quarters of the year when all the medical staff were available ; consequently they were not curtailed. The numbers of examinations of certain of the Handicapped Pupils who were neither at Open-Air Schools nor at other Special Schools were not so satisfactory as in previous years. Other Periodic Inspections : 1947 Intermediate . . . . 2,952 (7-8 year-olds) Grammar and Technical \ Schools . . . . [ 3 447 Nursery Classes other than j Entrants . . . . J Special Schools . . 934 Handicapped, etc. . . 253 7,586 1948 1949 1950 1951 5,345 3,887 4,516 4,983 2,663 1,330 1,800 1,883 1,269 1,387 1,388 1,309 1,047 718 841 888 400 1,132 1,141 727 10,724 8,454 9,686 9,790 Follow-up. In reports of several years ago, a page or more of the annual report would be given to the Follow-up work. This used to consist largely of formal re-examinations by the doctors at the school of children who had been found at a previous examination to have some defect for which treatment was necessary. Follow-up work to-day is of a much less formal kind, but it is still going on continuously. Neglected, dirty children are “ followed-up ” repeatedly in the school by the nurses’ assistants and are often constant visitors to the minor ailments clinics. Eye cases are re-examined at varying intervals at the clinics ; ear, nose and throat cases are kept under regular observation if need be by the aural surgeon. Heart cases are repeatedly examined by the Paediatrician at the Central Clinic or at the hospital, while chronic chest conditions are kept under observation often at the City Hospital, tuberculosis cases being under the care of the Chest Physicians at Forest Dene. Thus in ways varying according to the nature and needs of the case the school health service ensures that the child in need of observation is watched by the family doctor, the specialist or by the school medical officers and nurses. Results of Medical Inspection. Last year I was able to show a decrease during the last few years in the percentage of leavers found at periodic medical inspection to be in need of treatment and expressed the hope that this decrease would continue. It has not done so, but the figures are not large and I do not think that any great significance should be attached to them. The following table shows the percentage of children in the Prescribed Groups found at Periodic Medical Inspection to require treatment (excluding dental defects, uncleanliness and defective vision). 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 Entrants 12.8 11.7 12.5 12.5 11.9 Second Age Group , , 8.8 5.6 5.3 4.6 4.1 Third Age Group , , — 5.8 3.7 2.2 3.6 Total 10.7 8.3 8.4 6.9 6.7