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110
This table shows the actual work done by the Medical Officer
in examining patients at the Dispensary and at their homes, and
also the rate at which new cases were seen during the year. The
first quarter of the year showed a marked influx of uninsured
persons, chiefly children, since such persons first became eligible
for treatment on January ist, 1914. Throughout the year, however,
the number of new cases seen remained at a high level,
averaging ove*- two a day, and the examinations made steadily
increased as the total number of individuals in touch with the
Dispensary became more numerous. The numbers of new cases
and of necessary examinations have increased still further in 1915,
and it is clear that the limits of the work of the Dispensary are still
far from being reached.
The proportion of known tuberculosis in the Borough which
is dealt with through the Dispensary is satisfactorily high, as is
shown by the following estimate :—
(1) Total Primary Notifications, 1914 473
(2) Total new cases seen at Dispensary and
diagnosed as tuberculous, 1914 374
Practically all the cases in (2) may be reckoned as included
in (1).
Therefore approximately 79 per cent, of the cases notified in
the Borough in 1914 were seen by the Medical Officer to the
Tuberculosis Dispensary.
But approximately one-eighth of the notified cases in the
Borough occur in houses of a rental estimated over £35, per annum,
and in the majority of these cases treatment through the Dispensary
is not required, and the Medical Officer only acts as consultant
when called to see them.
In 1914 344 new cases were treated through, as well as being
seen, at the Dispensary.
An estimate of the number of new cases which it was advisable
should receive treatment from the public health authority in 1914
may be made as follows:—
Total primary notifications (1914) 473
Less one-eighth occurring in houses of rental
estimated over £35 per annum 59
Therefore new cases occurring in 1914 which
presumably required treatment through the
Dispensary 414
And actual cases treated through Dispensary 344
i.e., 82 per cent.