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24
Residential Treatment
263 men, 179 women and 15 children were admitted to Residential
Institutions in Croydon during 1956.
The Chest Clinic and Home Visiting
1,745 new cases were examined during the year. 202 were found
to be definitely tuberculous.
The total number of attendances for examination at the Chest
Clinic was 18,852. There were also 4,401 attendances by patients
for collapse therapy.
The Clinic doctors paid 268 home visits and the Tuberculosis
Visitors 2,585 visits for Clinic purposes. In addition the
Tuberculosis Visitors made 327 primary visits for the purposes
of the Notification Register. There were also 1, 141 unsuccessful
visits made.
Patients requiring home nursing or surgical dressings are
attended to by the nurses from the Croydon Nursing Association,
by arrangement with that organisation. Their assistance is a
valuable adjunct in the care of domiciliary cases.
Contact Examination
The examination and subsequent supervision of persons coming
into contact with patients suffering from Tuberculosis pi ays an
important part in the prevention of the spread of infection.
During 1956, 738 persons were examined for the first time as
contacts of notified cases of Tuberculosis, giving a contact-case
ratio of 3.5 for each notified case during the year.
Of these contacts, 10 were found to be tuberculous. This is
equal to a Tuberculosis rate per 1,000 contacts of 14, compared
with 1.40 per 1,000 of the general population. In addition, there
were 9 found to be tuberculous who had been under observation
from previous years.