[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camden].

  • Camden (London, England). Borough Council.
Date:
[1966?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camden]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/106 (page 40)
    CHILDREN IN CARE Arrangements have been made with the Children's Officer for the medical follow-up of children on the Handicap and Observation Register who may be taken into care. As far as possible the Children's Officer consults with the Health Department in advance, so that the child with a major handicap may be placed where he can readily continue to have expert consultant advice and his needs for training, physiotherapy, speech therapy, etc. can be met. In this way the necessity for a second move of the child to make these essential services available, may be avoided. Where such consultation cannot be made in advance, the Children's Officer notifies the Health Department as soon as possible after the child has been placed. SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF HANDICAP (a) Deafness A child who is suspected to have a hearing loss is referred by the clinic doctor to the Council's consultant otologist at University College Hospital with the prior agreement of the general practitioner. Appointments are arranged by a social worker of the Health Department who also attends the hospital clinic. Health visitors provide full social reports of the child's family background and follow-up failed appointments. Children with a hearing loss may be recommended by the consultant otologist for part-time attendance at a day nursery, especially in those families where the mother for various reasons may be unable to give the child the necessary conversation practice he requires to help him to learn to speak. All such referrals are given immediate consideration by the Principal Medical Officer. (b) Mentally retarded children All children who appear to be mentally retarded have their hearing and vision tested. Some of these children may be referred by the centre medical officer or reviewing medical officer to the special advisory clinic undertaken by a doctor with special experience in this field; a mental health social worker also attends. Special units for young children with general developmental delay have been set up in Coram's Garden Day Nursery and the Lindfield Gardens Day Nursery for mentally handicapped children (the latter being administered by the Camden Society for Mentally Handicapped Children with financial and professional support from the Borough). In such units, seriously retarded children can be observed by the doctor and trained staff, and help and guidance to meet their individual needs provided. In this way a continuous assess ment of the child's developmental progress can be made. The child himself benefits from the opportunities for free play and group activities with other groups of children in the nursery. Similarly the severely physically handicapped child may have the opportunity to socialise with other children and to make the best use of his residual assets. Estimated number of children under 5 years 16,100 Number of children under 5 on Handicap and Observation Register 1,802 11 per cent. Number of children under 5 years with known handicap 191 1 per cent. It was expected nationally that the number of babies at risk was likely to be about 10 per cent, although in many areas it has proved to be much higher - even as high as 25 per cent. At such a level a register may become unmanageable. At its best the follow-up of babies at risk is an integrated service in which the local health authority, hospital and general practitioner services must all play a part. The figures for this year in Camden seem to suggest that a good measure of co-operation is being achieved for the benefit of the handicapped child and his family. 40