[Report 1934] / School Medical Officer, Somerset County Council.

  • Somerset (England). County Council.
Date:
1934
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1934] / School Medical Officer, Somerset County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/50 (page 13)
    The other two, admitted in Seiitember, 1933, were discharged at the end of thirty-one and thirty-eight weeks resi^ectively. The following medical reports on their physical condition are very satisfactory :— (a) Chorea cured and general condition good. Gained 15 lbs. in weight and grown If inches. Still has systolic murmur, but lesion seems to be quiescent. There should be no furtlier relapse under favourable home conditions, etc. (h) Has gained 1 stone in weight since admission and grown If inches. Now no chorea nor any cardiac lesion, and her exercise tolerance test is as it should be. Quite fit to attend school regularly. It is evident that the marked improvement in these heart cases has been well maintained and there is every reason to believe that permanent cure has been effected. VISION AND EYE DEFECTS. The cases of defective vision include those with slight defects which require no special treatment, and cases of decided impairment of vision or with definite symptoms of eye strain which are referred to the School Oculist. During 1934 the School Oculist examined 1U51 new cases and prescribed glasses in 942. At the end of the year the number of eye centres in the County was 35, all unaltered from the previous year. Ninety-one per cent, of the children summoned to the different eye centres attended. Of the remaining 9 per cent, the majority attended on being again sent a notice. During 1934 the five shillings charged for spectacles was received from 1,388 parents, while in 208 cases (as compared with 218 in 1933) the cost or part of it was provided out of County funds. The expenditure involved was £41 Os. Od., as compared with £43 10s. fid. in 1933. Necessitous cases requiring free repairs to frames or new lenses, etc., cost the Committee £2 fis. Id. Carrying out the resolution of the Education Committee to pay charges for repairs above 2s. fid. cost £1 Ifis. 9d. The present charge for spectacles is now rather more than their actual cost, and during the year this gave a profit of £72 18s. Od. £45 2s. lOd. was lost on repairs and for free glasses, and £3 17s. fid. on eye- shades. The receipts for eye material, therefore, was £23 19s. 8d. above the cost. During the year l,59fi new pairs of spectacles were supplied, while 924 pairs previously ordered were repaired, or new lenses were fitted to old frames. Children provided with spectacles are re-examined by the Medical Inspectors at their next visit to see that the spectacles fit and have not been bent out of sha]>e. If necessary the children are referred back to the School Oculist. Of the 1,051 new cases examined, fil were suffering from squint. Glasses were prescribed in fil cases and obtained in 55. Eye shades were provided in 34 cases.