[Report 1954] / School Medical Officer of Health, Essex County Council.

  • Essex (England). County Council.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / School Medical Officer of Health, Essex County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The arrangements made provided for the attendance of a Physiotherapist from the Tdbury and Eiverside General Hospital at the County Health Services Clinic at Annalee Eoad on the South Ockendon Estate once a week. A special feature of the scheme is that the School Medical Officers, Health Visitors and School Nurses in the area covered by the experiment refer any suspicious cases of postural defects or other deformity to the Medical Officer in charge of the experiment. If the child is considered to require treatment, it is referred in the first instance to the Physiotherapist who if the defect is of a severe nature refers it to the Orthopaedic Surgeon at the hospital orthopaedic clinic in the usual way after the approval of the private doctor has been obtained. The case history of every child is reviewed by the Orthopaedic Surgeon before the child is discharged. Any child from the area already undergoing physiotherapy treatment at hospital and who is considered suitable by the Orthopaedic Surgeon is transferred to the Health Services Clinic for treatment in order to avoid unnecessary travelling, and such children are classified as “ special conditions ”. Pre-school childTen are also referred to the Clinic and are included in the classes if necessary. Sessions are held once a week from 10.0 a.m. to 12 mid-day, each class having a different set time. The Orthopaedic Surgeon who is taking part in the experiment has drawn up lists of suitable exercises for each class of defect to be treated, and exercises are carried out at the Clinic under the supervision of the Physiotherapist. In addition, each child takes home a copy of the chart of exercises in order that the exercises may be continued at home. Groups of Children Treated. The classes under observation are :— Group A .. Foot Class—aU foot conditions „ B .. Knee Class—all knee conditions „ C .. Posture and Back Class Children in Group C also have tests of visual acuity and the suitability of their school desks is investigated Group D .. Sunlight Class „ E .. Breathing Class „ F .. Special Conditions During the first five months of the experiment, 177 children were seen and treated, making 505 attendances. Of these-— 88 children suffered from foot conditions 25 „ „ „ knee conditions 20 „ „ „ postural deformities 4:4 „ „ „ chest diseases The latter required breathing exercises and ultra violet light. Only three cases were referred for a Consultant’s opinion, two of whom received hospital treatment, the third being returned to the Clinic for further exercises. Of the 177 children treated, 12 required attention for more than one condition.