[Report 1969] / School Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Man.

  • Isle of Man. Council.
Date:
1969
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1969] / School Medical Officer of Health, Isle of Man. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/30 (page 8)
    illation and in the younger age groups practically ail the parents attended. The number of children found to require treatment was 444 (16.93%). Defects of vision (10.45%) once again produced the highest percentage of the various defects requiring treatment. Details of specific defects found at medical examinations are given in the statistical tables at the end of the report. The re-examination i.e. re-inspection of those children found at routine medical inspection to have a defect requiring treatment or continued observation take place on average every other term with some children being seen once a term and some oftener than this. The parent is sometimes asked to be present at the re-inspection also so that the medical officer may discuss some particular aspect of a child’s problem. The increases in the number of inspections and re-inspections is a reflection of the increase in the school population in the past year. PHYSICAL CONDITION Once again no child was considered to be of unsatisfactory physical condition among the children examined in the periodic age groups and the average heights and weights of children examined in these groups show no significant change from those of the previous year. Whilst most school children are well nourished and give no cause for concern, a small number require constant supervision because of their failure to thrive and put on weight and these are often children who for one reason or another are not receiving school meals. If the reason for such a child not taking school dinners is solely that the parents cannot afford to pay, arrangements can be made for them to be provided with free school dinners and the expansion of the school meals service has made it possible for many more of these children to be sure of obtaining a correctly balanced meal at mid day during school term. However there are also other delicate or frail children who would benefit from school dinners, some of them from poor but not impoverished homes: these are the children one would like to see in the school dining rooms and often does not. In contrast, there are still children whose main problem is one of overweight. MINOR AILMENTS AND CONSULTATION CLINICS 3,914 children made 6,789 visits to the school nurses for the treat- ment of minor ailments. The length of some clinics was reduced to match the reduction in the number of children attending and this gave the nurses more time for their work in the schools. Most ailments treated were of minor eye or skin conditions and there was an increase in the number of cases of scabies and impetigo which, unless they are promptly treated, will quickly spread through a class or school. School nurses are and must be ever on the alert and the increased prevalence of these two diseases emphasizes the need for constant vigilance. Away from the bustle of school medical inspections, the clinics are also used by the medical officers for examinations of pre-school children and special examinations of school children.