Improving the selection of children for health assessment at secondary transfer age: completing the audit cycle

Whilst there have been many reported assessments of selective medicals at 5+ school entry, there is a dearth of publications on the value of selected medical review at secondary transfer age. It was decided to evaluate this within the South Downs Health Trust. The team of child health doctors was asked to record data about children selected for medical review at secondary transfer age in 1992. Differences in practice were discussed, protocols were introduced and the exercise repeated. Overall the second year showed no evident change with 9.5% of children selected from 2729 in 1992 and 9.6% selected from 2473 in 1993. However, analysis of individual schools showed significant changes which illustrated the improvements achieved and the areas of weakness remaining to be addressed.