Demise of the school medical in the UK

I had my last school medical in 1984 in my final year of school. They were discontinued, but it varied from type of school, where state schools no longer carried them out, but some private schools continued with them, and some possibly still carry out periodic examinations. Did anyone here from the UK have a school medical after 2000?

Guess parents should decide what's helpful for them. They may also found a private initiative to keep this tradition running. May be with a local doctor or nurse

Question: are they gone because with National Health they no longer serve a purpose? Most UK children see a physician regularly now while that wasn’t always the case.

Most UK children see a physician regularly now while that wasn’t always the case.

I do not think they do.

Most UK children see a physician regularly now while that wasn’t always the case.

No one in the uk sees a Doctor regularly. No time for non urgent check ups. Preventative check ups are not the norm.

Things like Diabetes checks are every agreed rate but by a Nurse.

Thanks!

I am not from The UK but I think not offering children (especially children) and adults access to preventive screenings is illogical. By offering such services you can reduce the potential risks of disease or chronic conditions which will ultimately cause further burdens on an already strained system.

Say what what you want about privatized healthcare in The USA but we do have plans that cover preventative services at affordable rates. A good potion of the monthly premiums are paid for by the employer (depending on the employer).

I suffer from chronic asthma so I am no stranger to private health care. I have been able to see some of the best providers in Pulmonology for many years. When I got involved with athletics as a boy (Cross Country Running, LaCrosse, Diving Team) I had access to many excellent providers who not only treated my condition but counseled me about developing my athletic potential and overall fitness. My current health plan even pays a good portion of my gym membership.

@Examined I was quite lucky in that even pre-devolution Scotland was always a bit different to the rest of the UK, and hence we still had exams when I was at school much later later than elsewhere... and I got to pose in my boxers in front of other girls in the corridor from the changing room to the gym - who enjoyed seeing a load of Scotch beef. 😉

I've said it before but maybe it was down to the Scottish Office believing all that guff about us all gorging ourselves on deep fried Mars bars and were afraid that a generation of kids were going to grow up obese as a result. 🤣

The lack of school medicals in Britain means many no do not have health problems identified at all, just another aspect of the overall decline of society,

School medicals are where my medfet developed, I'm sure many fellow members are similar

I was born in 2002 and we didn't have them. they weigh and measure you but nothing more than that. i think the fact it was when you turned around 23 you'd have to have such a vulnerable exam made it more scary in my mind like a ticking time bomb which is where i think my interest -> kink came about

School medicals were still very much a thing when I attended private school in the 2000s. My last school medical was in 2010.

@Nurse_Phillips

Question: are they gone because with National Health they no longer serve a purpose? Most UK children see a physician regularly now while that wasn’t always the case.

I think they were stopped in order to save money. Although we have the NHS, it doesn’t have a general screening service. You would take your child to see the GP if they were unwell, but they would not conduct a medical as such. You can arrange a medical with a private doctor. There is nothing like the “back to school” or sports examinations you have in the US.

I would be interested to know if routine medical examinations were also previously more commonplace in other areas of UK public life - e.g. civil service jobs, prisons, armed forces etc and if there has been a similar demise of medical screening in these settings too.

I didn't have one (a long time) before 2000! Yet somehow I did get a medfet!

School medicals were still a thing when I started school in 1988, but they got less and less in both frequency and coverage as we progressed. When starting high school in 1995 there was a more brief visit with the school nurse, but nothing after that.

I can remember at least unbuttoning my shirt in 1988, but that never happened again. It was the only time we saw a doctor too, from memory.

There is nothing like the “back to school” or sports examinations you have in the US.

mores the pity

School medicals were still a thing when I started school in 1988, but they got less and less in both frequency and coverage as we progressed. When starting high school in 1995 there was a more brief visit with the school nurse, but nothing after that..

I was already at school by 1988 and I dont remember the exact year but mid 80s might be the last time I had any sort of medical at school, so maybe that period was the tail end of it as a practice.

@Nurse_Phillips I think they were stopped in order to save money.

Thats believable, but I heard someone once before that by the 80s general health had advanced sufficiently that blanket school medicals didnt identify enough issues to justify it anymore - a victim of their own success.

Thats believable, but I heard someone once before that by the 80s general health had advanced sufficiently that blanket school medicals didnt identify enough issues to justify it anymore - a victim of their own success.

That makes sense. Being examined annually at school did seem a bit excessive, plus I had another examination in the summer holidays. It might have been an idea to schedule them at certain ages, say 7, 11, 14 and school leaving year rather than go to no examinations at all.

It might have been an idea to schedule them at certain ages, say 7, 11, 14 and school leaving year rather than go to no examinations at all.

That would make more sense than every year certainly and I suspect that was the idea already in place in the 80s, but by the end of that decade it was abandoned completely. It would have been better to have had one last one during my school years, so looking back so feel kind of cheated although would have probably hated it on the day though!

It might have been an idea to schedule them at certain ages, say 7, 11, 14 and school leaving year rather than go to no examinations at all.

I was not born in the UK, but in Switzerland and, in the 1960s/1970s, there were already only 4 school medical exams, at 7, 10, 14 and 17 years old.

I don't remember getting any medicals at school in the UK growing up, other than the perfunctory check for head-lice and a quick peek in your underwear in primary school.

Must have been something brought in after I left in 1960.

I got a school medical at age 6, which would have been 1989. I remember how the female doctor who gave me my check-up was the wife of my usual doctor (I think it was my mum who told me that), and I remember her jumping straight to asking me to take my shirt off so she could use her stethoscope on me, which anyone who's read most of my other posts on here will guess totally won me over. My mum told me that I'd get two medical exams at school, one was that one and one would be just before I finished at that school and 'went up to big-school' (which in the UK is secondary school, where you went from age 11-16 back in my day...I think it's now 11-18.) I was really disappointed that I never got that 'big school' medical exam, having full-on realised my love of all things medical at age 9, as detailed in a couple of other posts on here. I would love to have that memory of 11 year old me full on making a tent in my pants in a room at my school as a doctor examined me, and watching all my friends waiting to go in, including my first boy-crush, but sadly it can only exist for me as an age-play fantasy and not a memory.

I honestly don't know why it stopped in England, although I once read in another post (I think it was here on Zity) that it happened because they realised they weren't actually finding that many problems so they deemed it not to be cost-effective. In the current crisis the UK is currently going through I seriously wonder if they'd find the reverse was true.

I don’t remember ever having anything other than a vaccination at school, and my records show I basically didn’t see a doctor between 6 and 24 - I was always lucky to be pretty healthy!

I was really late to puberty and had phimosis, though, which would have both got picked up early and maybe treated then if there had been regular checkups - ah well

My last school medical was in 1983 at age 12, so that broadly fits with @Examined 's theory. As described elsewhere here, it was fairly basic with very quick check of genitals, nothing extensive.

I had expected there would be more in later years, maybe at 15-16, but nothing transpired. It would certainly have made sense to examine boys again at that age to check how puberty was progressing, and trigger further medical examinations if any problems found with development, phimosis etc.

Through my teen years the thought of having to undergo another school medical was probably one of the sources of my medfet - that combination of fear, embarrassment, thrill and arousal in my fantasies!

,Such a shame they have stopped for the most part. I am not sure how many conditions were actually diagnosed as a result of them - I can only remember one friend being g referred back to his GP for something.

As documented elsewhere here, a school medical was very definitely a formative experience for my medfet which I think of fondly to this day

I don’t remember ever having anything other than a vaccination at school, and my records show I basically didn’t see a doctor between 6 and 24 - I was always lucky to be pretty healthy!

Although it doesn't play to the medfet ideals, in reality if you can go years or even decades withouy needing any treatment or seeing a doctor that's not always a bad thing!

In my area, late 70s there always seemed to be a doctor attending the school to give medicals and you were always wondering when you were going to get called up with the brown letter arriving in the school register. Mid to late 80s they got far less regular and eventually stopped.

I had a school medical when I was age 7. That would have been 1988 or 89. Never heard of any other people who got them after. I remember it was the first time I was naked in front of a stranger. Remember him pulling my tight little foreskin back and it hurt. Then remember having to bend over and him pulling my cheeks a part then slapping my bum and telling me to get dressed. This is what lead to the letter being send home re my tight foreskin and my father helping me out with it

To @JoJoDee

can you give us more details about the set up of your school physical examination at a boarding school during the 80's ?

were they performed each year at the beginning of the school year ?

were they performed in group or undressing in, group and an examination alone ?

in front of school nurse and female or male doctor?

always the same doctor and nurse ?

always the same set up for all grades ?

were a few non medical persons involved such as Pe teacghers or coaches ? or members of tghe staff of the school ? female secretaries ?