Health of the Schoolchild: A History of the School Medical Service in England and Wales, 1908-74

The establishment of the school medical service on 1st January 1908 represented a major new development in the history of public health provision and can be regarded as one of the most important single steps on the road to the creation of the 'welfare state'. This study examines the background to the establishment of the new service, and looks at the full range of economic, social and political factors which influenced its subsequent development. It also uses information culled from the reports of individual School Medical Officers to examine the history of child health in Britain between 1908 and 1974. Finally, it considers the part played by the school medical service in the establishment of the National Health Service, and shows how the extension of free medical care to the whole population affected the development of school medical provision after 1945.