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21
Tuberculosis Notifications.
By the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1912, the notification of
all forms of Tuberculosis was made compulsory.
Excluding duplicates and military and naval cases the total number of notifications
received was 94, of which 26 were private cases, 51 hospital cases, and
15 poor-law cases. Of these 76 were pulmonary cases and 18 non-pulmonary.
Of the total number of cases 12, or 12-7 per cent., were residents of common
lodging houses, and were all but 3 at once or soon afterwards removed to workhouse
infirmaries. With few exceptions the remaining 82 lived in tenement houses, and
28 of these were removed to infirmary or hospital, 54 remaining at home, but some
of these had previously been in infirmaries, hospitals or sanatoria.
The number of deaths from phthisis during the year was 67, or a death-rate
of 1-76 per 1,000, in comparison with 2-47 for 1918.
During the past year of the 67 deaths, 9 had been removed to infirmaries from
common lodging houses in the Borough, that is about 13-4 per cent.
Tuberculosis Dispensary. See pages 9 and 10.
The following is the report of the Tuberculosis Officer, David William Fenwick
Jones, M.B., B.S., for the year, 1919.
Introductory Remarks.
The present Tuberculosis Officer took over the work at the Dispensary from
Dr. Khan on July 1st, 1919. On that date there was also a change of nurses, Miss
Bayley taking over from Miss Sage.
An endeavour was at once made to get into touch with every patient on the
register who had not attended since 1918. A part only of this work has been accomplished
and is still proceeding. In this way a number of patients were crossed off
the register as seen below.
Suitable patients, who have been under observation for some time, are
encouraged to place themselves under the care of their own doctors and are requested
to attend the Dispensary at specified times. In this way the number of attendances
has been diminished, thus enabling more time to be spent on new cases and those
requiring continuous observation with frequent systematic examinations.
The Interim-Care Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. W. A. Bond,
M.O.H., meets at the Dispensary every month—the work of this committee is most
valuable.