[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Twickenham].

  • Twickenham (London, England). Urban District Council.
Date:
[1921]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Twickenham]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/80 (page 14)
    14 The number of children suffering from other infectious diseases was not in excess of the normal average. As in previous years, in all cases where the Head Teacher has reported that a child has been absent from school and the absence was believed to be due to Measles, Whooping Cough, or Mumps, the School Nurses have visited the home, and when the diagnosis was verified contacts from the same household have been excluded, in accordance with the Joint Memorandum of the Medical Officers of the Local Government Board and Board of Education, issued in 1909. Although this had been carried out as thoroughly as possible—and of course it could only apply to cases coming to the knowledge of and reported by the Head Teachers—it had not the desired result in preventing the spread of those diseases in the Infants' Schools, although at times extensive exclusions made serious inroads on the attendance. After careful consideration, it was decided to cease routine exclusion of contacts of Measles, Whooping Cough Chicken Pox, or Mumps, and to substitute a system of daily visits to the Infant Schools by the School Nursing Staff. For several years past, the School Nurses have visited daily for ten days classes where a case of Diphtheria has occurred, and examined the throats of the children. The method of daily visits to all Infants' Departments was therefore an extension of this procedure. The Committee approved the course suggested and a commencement was made at the end of the year. Certain schools were allotted to each Nurse, corresponding as far as possible to the district usually covered by her in the course of her duties as Health Visitor. The following instructions were issued to the Nursing Staff:—