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Extra Nourishment.
Provision of special nourishment in the form of milk was
granted to 32 selected cases for varying periods duing the year,
and 12 cases were in receipt of extra nourishment at the end of
the year.
Thoracic Surgery.
There is great need for better provision for Thoracic Surgery
both minor and major, in the treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis,
and also for Non-Tuberculous diseases of the chest. This
unforutnate position is not peculiar to Croydon. There is, at
present, an insufficiency of surgeons especially skilled in this
branch of surgery, and also of hospital beds for the patients. The
few patients, who have been able to have major operations, have
had to wait for a considerable period, sometimes up to two years.
Owing to this delay some patients either are not so fit or are no
longer fit for the operation, due to deterioration in their condition.
During the year 61 patients had Phrenic Nerve Operations
performed at Mayday Hospital, and a number of other cases
received surgical treatment at Brompton Hospital, in the
Chest Unit at Horton Emergency Hospital, at London Chest
Hospital and St. Helier Hospital.
Residential Treatment.
356 males, 301 females and 42 children were treated in
Residential Institutions in connection with the Croydon Tuberculosis
Scheme during 1948.
At the end of the year there were 6(3 beds occupied in the
Croydon Borough Sanatorium, North Cheam, compared with 77
at the end of 1947 and the normal 94 beds pre-war.
The Chest Clinic and Home Visiting.
It would appear that we have concentrated too much on the
results of sanatorium treatment and too little on the methods of
domiciliary and dispensary care, accompanied by adequate
environmental hygiene. The tuberculosis scheme has probably
come to depend too much upon residential institutions and too
little on the building up of personal resistance in the home surroundings.
The following table gives a summary of the work done in
connection with the Clinic.
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