View report page

22
The Care Committee was also much concerned with the progress of the pottery
workshop opened in 1958 to assist in the rehabilitation of the chronic chest patient.
In spite of many difficulties over staffing and transport, classes continued to be
held twice weekly and it is hoped that better premises on a site nearer the clinic
will shortly be available.
Housing problems loomed very large and their discussions were time-consuming and
more often than not fruitless for both staff and patient. In particular the triennial
review of the L.C.C. waiting list brought many enquiries from despondent applicants to
whom the extremely restricted medical preference schemes of both county and borough
authorities had to be tactfully explained. Those few cases which did qualify for
medical preference and were otherwise eligible appear to have been offered accommodation
comparatively quickly. The difficult problem, however, of getting for example,
the chronic bronchitic, out of London has still to be tackled effectively.
With regard to rehabilitation, the practice of meeting the Ministry of Labour
Disablement Resettlement Officer to discuss individual problems with the Chest
Physician, Care Organiser and patient at the clinic was resumed, and these regular
meetings have been most valuable in ensuring a better follow-up of the patients'
progress. The employment problems of thirty-one patients were reviewed, 16 of whom
were at work at the end of the year.
It is gratifying to note that the Ministry of Labour appreciates the scope for
more intensive individual case work in this aspect of the work, and it is hoped this
will be developed in the future in spite of overall staffing considerations of the
Ministry.
NON-TUBERCULOUS CHEST DISEASE
This is demanding increasing attention because of its annual toll and its
increasing severity in the polluted air of the London conurbation.

Bronchitis and carcinoma of the lung are two diseases that have now replaced
tuberculosis in social importance, and the deaths for the last three years, though
small, tell their own grim story. How much longer will the public conscience allow
unlimited freedom for the advertisement and sale of a dangerous habit-forming drug
like tobacco.
228 new non-tuberculous patients were referred to the clinic last year compared
with 175 in 1958 and routine attendances rose from 1,187 to 1,558. Non-pulmonary