[Report 1925] / School Medical Officer of Health, Wolverhampton County Borough.

  • Wolverhampton (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1925] / School Medical Officer of Health, Wolverhampton County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ( as previously described. Altogether 1502 medical defects were fol¬ lowed up by the Nurses, of which number 580 were old cases and 922 notified during the year. As the result of visiting, the posi¬ tion reported at the end of the year was : Treatment obtained, 965 cases; Treatment not obtained, 362 cases ; Report not yet avail¬ able, 175 cases. The Nurses’ work was handicapped by absences through more or less serious illness of three members of the staff during the year. Notwithstanding, 679 visits were paid to schools, and 1571 to homes. 1460 attendances were made at Clinic Sessions (including 42 attendances at Sessions held for the purpose of exam¬ ining children for the holiday camp). The examination by the Nurses in Schools numbered 24,189, their total examinations ex¬ ceeding 50,000. 8. (a)—The new cases and total attendances at the Minor Ail¬ ments Clinic last year numbered 3,280 and 33,278 compared with 3,305 and 34,729 respectively the previous year. The value of the work was well maintained. Minor Eye Defects numbered 365, compar d with 307 the previous year. Reference to the Eye Specialist in suitable cases was made with increased frequency. 112 cases of Ringworm of the Scalp were successfully dealt with, as usual without X-rays. Cases of this complaint not infrequently obtain medical treatment privately at first; and finish by coming to us. The following is an instance J.E., a boy aged 6, was notified to us as a case of suspected Ring¬ worm by the Head Teacher on June 16. We issued on the same day, an ‘exclusion until certified fit.’ The parents obtained medical treatment privately, and enquiries made three weeks later showed that this treat¬ ment was being continued. After three months’ exclusion from School, the parent brought the boy to the Minor Ailments CTinic with a request f >r treatment. The dfiease being still active, the hair was properly cut forthwith and treatment commenced, the boy being re-admitted to school three weeks later. In the above case, only three months’ school attendance had been lost, but the interval that elapses before adequate measures are taken to effect a cure is not infrequently of much longer duration.