[Report 1952] / School Medical Officer of Health, Anglesey County Council.

  • Anglesey (Wales). County Council. no2003102100.
Date:
1952
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1952] / School Medical Officer of Health, Anglesey County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ANGLESEY COUNTY COUNCIL. To the Chairman and Members of the Education Comm ittee. My Lord, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present the fortieth Annual Report of the School Medical Service in the County. The health of the school population, in so far as it can be measured by statistical indices, continued to be satisfactory in 1952 and in the body of this report will be found several indications in support of this general conclusion. The work of the school medical department proceeded smoothly during the year and the establishment—medical, dental, nursing and clerical—was up to strength. There are however certain deficiencies in ancillary services to which your attention should be drawn. The most serious is the inadequacy of social work in the field of mental health. This is a field where much benefit could be reaped, but workers are few. Another deficiency is in the provision of speech therapy. There is a small number of children in our schools who are severely handicapped by reason of speech defect and when wc consider how serious such a handicap can be to the child’s development and educational progress, and later in seeking em- ployment, we cannot feel content with the present position. During the year a few cases were seen by a therapist employed by Caer- narvonshire Education Committee. Now that this therapist has given up her work there is no immediate prospect of providing this treatment. In the case of both these deficiencies the committee has actively sought a solution. You are confronted, however, with a nation-wide shortage of qualified persons and the added complication of the language. Psychiatric social work and speech therapy could only be effectively provided in this area by Welsh speaking workers. I have suggested for the consideration of the committee the possibility of selecting suitable persons and sending them for training.