[Report 1921] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough.

  • Swindon (Wiltshire, England). Borough Council.
Date:
1921
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1921] / Medical Officer of Health and School Medical Officer of Health, Swindon Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    8 but unfortunately it is by no means free from it, and the chronic diseases of this age usually escape detection unless systematically searched for. It is a matter of experience that the majority of chronic diseases of the toddler age are neither detected nor treated until the child enters school and is submitted to medical inspection. This is unfortunate, because many defects, such as those of the ear, eye or mouth, and more serious affections such as Asthma and organic diseases of the nervous system, offer considerable hope of complete cure during the first few years of life, but are very refractory after the school age is reached. A good deal of the supervision of the toddlers is carried out by the Health Visitors in the course of their other duties, but this part of the work requires to be better organised, as much of the information obtained is lost under the present system. The problem of getting a systematic supervision of toddlers is one urgently calling for attention, and though the matter presents difficulties, these are not insurmountable, and it can be hoped that during the coming year considerable progress may be made in this connection. THE SCHOOL CHILD. It will be seen from the Report of the School Medical Officer that the arrangements for dealing with the detection and treat¬ ment of disease in the school age are fairly complete. THE CHILD IN PUBERTY. The extension of medical inspection and treatment to children attending the Secondary and Continuation Schools places these in the same favourable condition as they were in the earlier years of their school life. Puberty is the age of the greatest strain upon the organism, and the future life of the population is, to a great extent, dependent upon proper care and treatment during the time when the human being is passing from the infantile to the adult condition. LIFE AFTER PUBERTY. When the child has finally left school the Health Department ceases to direct attention to him as an individual. Should he develop Infectious Disease, Tuberculosis or Venereal Disease, or should he be mentally defective, he will again come under the perview of the official medical department as an individual, but not otherwise. Many schemes have been suggested for the medical supervision of the population after childhood, but for the present no scheme for dealing with the adult population individually is feasible, though there is no doubt that in the course of time some such scheme will be devised, when it may be hoped that the diseases and disabilities of adult and middle age may prove as amenable to prevention as those of the earlier part of life have already done.