HC Deb 12 July 1911 vol 28 cc366-7
Mr. WEDGWOOD

asked whether it is the practice of medical inspectors of school children to make recommendations on the medical card of each child as to treatment or care and whether the inspectors of different authorities differ in practice on this point?

Mr. RUNCIMAN

In most cases the defect is referred to the parent in a special note. There are so many varieties of practice that it is impossible to deal with them in an oral answer. My hon. Friend will find much information on this point in the latest report of the chief medical officer of the Board.

Mr. WEDGWOOD

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether the schools under the London County Council are worse than those in the rest of the country?

Mr. RUNCIMAN

Quite recently I have had to criticise the methods adopted by the London County Council, and I see there are considerable improvements now in progress by that council and the medical officers.

Mr. WEDGWOOD

asked whether he can say how many schools on the average are allotted to one London County Council medical inspector for inspection; how many visits and how many hours a year on the average a medical inspector in the London area gives to each school; and how many children of each school he inspects individually at each visit?

Mr. RUNCIMAN

So far as I can ascertain from the information at present at my disposal I think the answer to the first part of the question is 9.2; but I cannot pretend to an accurate knowledge from month to month of the precise ways in which the various medical inspectors of local education authorities are employed. The actual number of visits per school and the number of hours spent in each school naturally varies with the number of children in average attendance. No general conclusions could properly be drawn from the averages suggested in the question, which are misleading, unless account is taken of the varying sizes of the schools. The number of children inspected at each visit appears to be, in the case of the older children, about twenty to twenty-five, and more in the case of infants. A visit extends over two-and-a-half hours.

Mr. WEDGWOOD

Would it be possible to get these doctors when they make up the card of the children to make their notes on them intelligibly, and not write them in Latin?