[Report 1933] / School Medical Officer of Health, Chesterfield.

  • Chesterfield (England). Council.
Date:
1933
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1933] / School Medical Officer of Health, Chesterfield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/32 (page 12)
    School children requiring an eye examination are referred to the School Eye Clinic, where they are examined. Urgent cases reporting to the School Clinic on a day on which the Eye Clinic is not sitting are referred to the Ophthalmic Department of the Chesterfield Royal Hospital. Therefore, a more or less continuous eye service is provided throughout the week, both during the school term and the holidays. Glasses or local treatment, or both, are prescribed at the Eye Clinic when necessary, and children requiring special local treatment or operations are referred to the Hospital for outpatient or in- patient treatment. The number of inflammatory cases is comparatively small. Rarely are they severe, and generally improve quickly with treat- ment. Credit must be given to the vigilance of the teaching staff, who insist on children with inflamed eyes reporting at the Chnic without delay. All cases of squint, at whatever age, should be referred to an Ophthalmic Surgeon without delay. Parents are encouraged to bring their children when they suspect squint, even if they have not attained school age. Too often it is too late to commence treatment of a squint after the child has commenced its school career. The Child Welfare Clinic is very helpful in referring suspected cases. The earlier the treatment is commenced the better the progress. One hopes by such methods to reduce considerably the number of squint operations, and also to avoid the long drawn out conservative methods of the treatment of squint. The attention given to the eyes appears to be appreciated by the majority of the parents, and they are willing to co-operate as far as possible. In some cases, the explaining of the eye defects in a simple way to the parents, and even to some of the children is very helpful. The parents accompany their children more frequently than for- merly. The School Teachers render considerable assistance, which is much appreciated, in helping to detect cases of defective vision, and also in the supervision of the children in the wearing of the spectacles. The following is a summary of the year’s work at the Ophthal- mic Clinic ;— Number of Attendances 2,341 Number of new cases who attended and were tested under Atropine 240 Number of new cases who attended and were tested without Atropine • 45