[Report 1920] / School Medical Officer of Health, Perth County Council.

  • Perthshire (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1920
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1920] / School Medical Officer of Health, Perth County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    During the year arrangements were made with many of tho District Nursing Associations, whereby the services of district Nurses were obtained for following up cases of children found defective. In certain-districts their services were also obtained for treating or advising in the treatment of minor ailments, such as contagious diseases and verminous conditions. In Crieff this treatment of minor ailments was considerably helped by the setting apart towards the end of the session of a small room in the Public School where the Nurses treated minor ailments. Some equipment was provided in the school, such as drugs, dressings, enamel ware and a few instruments. A considerable amount of useful work was accomplished in this district. Several medical visits were paid to see cases, and the schools were regularly inspected for verminous conditions, deficient clothing, and contagious diseases. A scheme is now nearing completion in the County (excluding Perth City), which embraces general school nursing, maternity and. child welfare nursing, and tuberculosis nursing. It includes the' provision of a general Superintendent, a relief Nurse, 5 full time Nurses, and the use of the district Nurses of the various associations which now, under the stimulating influence of the Nursing Federa¬ tion which came into being during the year, are at least '31 in number, with 36 Nurses in their employ. This number is still increasing, and it is expected that the County will soon be well provided with district Nurses. C. Arrangements for Following up.—In the City this is. complete. The nurses see all cases that have been recommended treatment. Visits to the schools by the Medical Officer is frequent,, and the Clinic is open daily. In the country districts the following up is not so complete. The defect lists previously mentioned are sent to the district nurse, if one is available, so that she may follow up the children to their* homes and advise the parents to have treatment. She reports later the results of her visits. If there is no district nurse the lists are sent to the headmaster to report how many children have been treated. As many schools as possible are re-visited for re-examina¬ tion of defectives, attention being concentrated particularly on the larger schools. If children are not re-examined during the year of their inspection, they are re-examined at the next routine visit to the school. D. Supervision of Infectious Diseases including School Closure-—Notice of infectious disease is sent by the head teacher to the Health Department, on a form provided. Advice is given whenever necessary to the head teachers, and if the circumstances warrant it the school is visited by the Principal Medical Officer. Whenever it is possible that School Closure or Class Closure might-