[Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, West Suffolk County Council.

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

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

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

    20/24 (page 18)
    NATIONAL ASSISTANCE ACT, 1948. WELFARE OF THE AGED AND THE DISABLED. Welfare Officers. There were three Welfare Officers, one Welfare Officer for the Blind and one Assistant Welfare Officer on the staff of the Department. During the year, the Officers paid visits as follows :— (a) Aged . . . . . 2,138 (b) Blind and Partially Sighted . . . 2,199 (c) Deaf or Hard of Hearing . . . 143 (d) Disabled (Other than b and c). . . 900 (e) Others . . . . . 517 Total. . . . 5,897 Welfare of the Blind and Partially Sighted. There were 260 registered blind and 35 partially sighted persons in the County at the end of the year. The age and sex distribution was as follows :— Blind. 0—4 5-10 11-20 21-30 31-39 40-49 50-59 60-64 65 and over Total Male 1 _ 1 — 4 1 7 8 11 69 101 Female. 1 — 2 2 6 9 16 12 in 159 Total 1 1 2 6 7 16 24 23 180 260 Partially Sighted. 0—4 5-15 16—20 21—49 50—64 65 and over Total Male . — — 1 5 8 8 22 Female . — 1 1 2 1 8 13 Total — 1 2 7 9 16 35 Thirty-two new blind and six new partially sighted persons’were registered. Three persons were removed from the partially sighted register on transfer to the blind register. Details of the cause of defective vision of persons certified as blind or partially sighted and of the numbers which have received treatment are shown in the following table :— (i) Number of cases registered during the year with recommendations as follows :— (a) No Treatment (b) Treatment (medical, surgical or optical) . Cause of Disability. Cataract Glaucoma Retrolental Fibroplasia Others 1 4 1 4 23 5 (ii) Number of cases at (i) (b) above which on follow-up action have received treatment 1 3 2 No new cases of retrolental fibroplasia or ophthalmia neonatorum were reported. Training and Employment. Three ineducable blind children were accommodated in Institutions for Mental Defectives. One partially sighted child was resident in a special school. Under arrangements made by the Ministry of Labour and National Insurance, one person was admitted to a workshop for training.