[Report 1971] / Principal School Medical Officer of Health, Warwickshire County Council.

  • Warwickshire County Council
Date:
1971
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1971] / Principal School Medical Officer of Health, Warwickshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    pared with, for those who have time to refer back, those quoted in the introductory letter in my annual report as Principal School Medical Officer last year (1970). It may be remembered that in January, 1971 representatives of the Local Authority Organisation met representatives of the Department of Education and Science and suggested and implemented a joint study to consider how the continuance of the School Health Service and its development could be ensured. It was also agreed that joint study should include a definition and evaluation of the existing and prospective functions of the School Health Service and in the introductory letter referred to above that particular part of the proposed paper was reproduced. It is recognised that the new blue booklet cannot go into great detail, especially at this stage, but the needs of the School Health Service, the Child Guidance Service and Health Education Service seem very lightly dismissed and reference to them glibly worded, and for my own part I cannot help being apprehensive still for the future of the School Health Service. Child Guidance. The Consultant Child Psychiatrist reports as follows:— “The Future of the Child Guidance Clinic. The basis of treatment for the problem child has always been the combined effort of the doctor, the teacher and the social service. This is necessary because the child can only be seen as part of his family and against the background of his environment at home and at school. His past and his future are as important as the present. The Psychiatrist can only advise if he has a full social history, medical reports and all the information from the Psychologist and the school. Treatment can only be done by unified action. Times have changed, and in re-organisation the Child Guidance Clinic must change its shape, its name or administration. But the fundamental principle cannot change, that the mental health of the child depends on a meeting point of the medical, educational and social services. There is a real danger that each of these services may wish to become independent and do a Solomon's judgement, dividing the child into three parts. There is a tendency for the new child psychiatrists to base themselves on the Hospital, thus losing contact with the community. There is a danger that the School Psychological Service may venture into fields which are more the province of the social or the medical services. The new social service personnel often lack experience, have not yet been able to communicate adequately with the other services. They may err by tackling problems beyond their ability, or by referring too many cases to the Psychiatrist without the right type of data, or consultation with the medical service. The Child Guidance Clinic is the keystone to the child mental health service, but it cannot work without the social services. Chaos is developing because there are no plans for co-operation, very little communication or discussion. Too many problem children are referred urgently without a social history or consultation with the medical services or schools. Cases for referral should be carefully selected to avoid the evil of a long wait¬ ing list. There is a grave shortage of consultants in child and family psychiatry. Until such time as two more consultants are appointed, the time of the present Consultant should be used effectively and not wasted. This is a crucial point in Medical History. Will the Consultant in Child and Family Psychiatry take his stand in the community or must he retire to his base in the Hospital?” Children with Impaired Hearing. Pre-School Children. The Senior County Teacher of Hearing Impaired Children reports that at the time of writing there were thirty-four children in the County between the ages of one and five years with hearing losses or under observation being suspected of having hearing losses. Two displayed the rubella syndrome, one was diagnosed as being deaf and autistic and another severely disturbed. These last two were receiving respectively three half days and two full days attention from part-time teachers of the deaf. Twelve children were receiving attention in the Nursery Assessment Units. The usual regular weekly sessions of guidance were being given to the parents of the remaining twenty children. 3
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