I NOTE your report on a call for the routine weighing of primary school children (“Fat checking pupils will help tackle obesity, insists charity”, The Herald, December 6). When I first started work in the School Health Service more than 30 years ago that is exactly what myself and school nurses did.

We saw all children in Primary 1 and again in Primary 7 to pick up problems on entry and exit so that parents, staff and GPs could be advised of any concerns or special needs/chronic health conditions that might need support or treatment/monitoring.

Those with a growth or weight problem were followed up and dieticians even advised parents and school catering staff so that suitable meals were ordered.

Much of the work done was of benefit, but was rubbished in the reports produced by the likes of Professor Sir David Hall, formerly president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and others who advised the reduction of these checks on the grounds there was no evidence base. Health boards eagerly followed the advice, no doubt seeing reduced staffing and costs with glee.

It is sad to think how much potential medical data has been lost over the intervening years. Maybe the likes of the National Obesity Forum would have reacted a lot sooner instead of now considering "wielding a big stick".

There is a saying that “if you stay around long enough what goes around comes around", but of course all the bright young things think they have had a light bulb moment. Meantime there is no acknowledgement of child health policies and health care being partly to blame.

Dr Betty Wilson (retired paediatrician),

10 Ellergreen Road,

Bearsden.