ABSTRACT
This chapter deals specifically with the various elements of the periodic health examination. Subsequently, the most important similarities and differences between the Dutch and British systems of periodic health examination are looked at, with the idea of listing the advantages and disadvantages of each. The groups of professionals involved in pre-school Child Health Care have striven for further standardization of components of the periodic health examination. An appropriate method is protocol development, a procedure that is used in medical research in primary and secondary health care, and also in respect to health education for patients. In the United Kingdom, a working party recently proposed that the periodic health examination within the framework of Child Health Care be basically restricted to a number of 'proven' effective screening and health education methods. The British Joint Working Party has analysed all the screening tests used in the Child Health Care system.
