[Report 1939-1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Fife County Council.

  • Fife (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1939-1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Fife County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    67/212 (page 57)
    67 There was an increase in the “ other conditions ” group. In i this group were included abnormalities of the feet (pes planus and pes cavus) which constitute about one-third of the cases. Another i third of the group was made up of knock knees, bow legs and poor ! posture. Of the less frequent conditions, there were Perthe’s i Disease 5 ; Still's Disease 3 ; Osgood Schlatter’s Disease 2 ; Little’s Disease 1. When seen by the Specialists, cases were grouped according to ■ expectation of recovery or correction and their eventual probable social fitness. The percentage of those in the first group (a cure i up to 75 per cent, of physical efficiency can be expected) worked out !at about 65 per cent, and the figure for the last group (major cripples ■ unable to earn their livelihood) was 4-7 per cent. The Special Report of 1936 gave a figure of 15 per cent. This marked fall in the incidence of major crippling indicates that children are being seen at an earlier stage when there is a greater opportunity for cure or correction. Orthopaedic Treatment. Cwnic 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 Methil... ... 4,553 3,815 3,052 2,503 3,619 4,798 2,540 Lochgelly ... 3,777 3,473 3,093 3,034 3,674 5,245 4,003 Dunfermline 750 640 600 497 511 840 673 Markinch 557 414 496 420 454 388 320 Burntisland 292 450 371 263 423 758 625 Crossgates 432 292 217 224 . 282 330 164 Cupar ... 50 329 462 677 939 1,002 830 A.nstruther 19 318 352 461 799 760 886 St Andrews 76 404 488 477 609 788 574 Tayport 22 249 245 196 353 387 469 1 10,528 10,384 9,376 8,752 11,663 15,296 11,084 —— ■ - — The treatment given at these clinics was shared between pre- ■ school and school children as follows:—3437-7091; 3511-6873; lel3654-5722; 3606-5146; 4601-7062; 6385-8911 and 5074-6010. These figures show an increase in the number of treatments given to e pre-school children and indicate the greater attention given to Orthopaedic defects in younger children with a view to early treat- ment and possible cure. For the carrying-out of these clinic treat- ments, the following were the number of clinic meetings held :— ; 939—745 ; 1940—746 ; 1941—746 ; 1942—654 ; 1943—767 ; 1 944—776 and in 1945—657. In addition to the clinic cases, visits ; jvere made to the homes of cases too far distant from clinics. These : lomiciliary visits were mainly supervisory, although some minor reatments were given, and in some cases “ plaster-jackets ” or upports were made. The number of domiciliary visits were :— 939—333 ; 1940—218 ; 1941—315 ; 1942—171 ; 1943—145 ; 944—245; 1945—178. War-time reduction in staff affected the work, particularly the isitation of domiciliary cases. There was, however, an increase in