Report of the Director-General of Public Health, New South Wales.

  • New South Wales. Department of Public Health.
Date:
[1958]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Director-General of Public Health, New South Wales. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    104/160 (page 104)
    Another function of the Child Health Centre is to provide a consultative service for the guidance of teaching staff, school counsellors, parents and others interested in the Welfare of children of the area. In this connection, there were 162 telephone enquiries in the six months period. The Centre provides a service for 90 schools, departmental and non-departmental, in which about 45,000 children are enrolled. The facilities of the Centre are also available for pre-school children. A total of 19,744 children were examined by the medical officers attached to the Centre. The medical examination of these children commenced at the beginning of the year, prior to the opening of the Centre itself. The medical officers at the Centre examined 125 children, referred mainly by teachers. The school nurses saw 726 children at schools during their follow-up visits, and carried out 610 home visits, also associated with the follow-up process. The following is an analysis of the reasons for examination of the 125 children examined at the Centre by the medical officers:— Maladjustment, emotional disturbance, behaviour problems, etc., (of these, 10 were referred to Child Guidance Clinics). Suspected physical defects .. . Mental retardation (with or without physical defects) Speech defects . 57 50 10 8 125 To assist the medical officers to handle the cases of children referred because of some maladjustment problem, case discussion groups have been arranged which have been attended by the child psychiatrists from our Child Guidance Clinics. Adult health education in the interests of children is another objective to be explored in the near future. Lectures, discussion groups, films and similar methods are envisaged. The staff of the Centre at present consists of the medical officer in charge, 2 medical officers, 6 nurses, 1 part-time clerk. With the completion of the renovation of the building — a fine old colonial home — the staff will include additionally a part-time ear, nose and throat consultant in charge of a hearing clinic, and 2 speech therapists. SCHEME FOR MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN, CONDUCTED BY LYNDHURST SHIRE COUNCIL As a result of representations from the Lyndhurst Shire Council during 1957, conferences were held at Blayney between representatives of the Council, the Department of Education, local medical practitioners, and the Deputy Director of this Service, regarding the inauguration of a scheme of medical examination of school children in the shire area. It was decided that the medical examination of all the school children in the shire should be undertaken by the local medical practitioners, working under the supervision of this Service, and that the examinations should be carried out in accordance with the normal School Medical Service requirements. Medical examinations commenced in February, and were continued throughout the remainder of the year, by local medical practitioners, assisted by a nurse. A total of 19 schools were visited, and approximately 1,000 children were medically examined. The completed medical history cards were returned to this Service, and all children with defects were followed up for results by the nurse. The statistical results are included in the tables attached to this report. The scheme for the medical examination of school children in the Lyndhurst Shire has worked satisfactorily, and the Council and the local doctors are to be congratulated on their efforts and the results of their interest in public health and preventive medicine. During the year a further enquiry regarding a similar scheme was received from the Yarrowlumla Shire Council. A conference between representatives of this Service and the Council, and local medical practitioners, has been arranged for early next year. MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SPECIAL SCHOOLS During the year visits paid to departmental schools for retarded children were directed towards the correction of physical defects, such as those of hearing and vision, which could be contributing towards apparent retardation, and also towards endeavouring to find the original cause of the retardation in cases in which no investigation had been undertaken. In the latter case, the parents were referred to their own general practitioner, or to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children or other hospital, the Northcott Neurological Centre, or the Spastic Centre, where investigations and treatment, if possible, were prescribed. Considerable improvement was obtained in certain epileptic cases, and in others, where an abnormal electro-encephalogram indicated the advisability of drug treatment. Cases in which abnormal behaviour was causing concern were referred to departmental child guidance clinics.