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The number of cases notified is little more than half of that originally
estimated; hut it must be remembered that the Notification of this
disease is entirely new not only to Hampstead but to the Metropolis
generally, and in the Provinces its successful adoption has been the
outcome of years of labour, educational and persuasive, on the part of
Sanitary Authorities with the assistance afforded them by certain sections
of the public.
In the amelioration of the conditions under which consumptives
live the assistance of outside workers is most useful. Indeed in the
absence of Compulsory Notification, the very nature of the disease
renders their aid an essential factor in promoting the great work of its
prevention.
Lay workers can, by their absence of officialism, and with the
greater time at their disposal, do much to clicit facts of the greatest
importance to the patient himself, and at the same time prepare him for
the visit of the Sanitary Inspector, whose intentions are not always quite
understood, but which are always directed towards an improvement of
the patients' condition and in the interests of the public health.
In Hampstead, the benefits resulting from Voluntary Notification
have been greatly augmented through the cordial co-operation of the
District Visitors of the local Health Society, whose efforts have been
all tended towards securing an improvement in the surroundings of
the patient whether sanitary or purely domestic. This work they have
carried out without friction between the patients and themselves, and
without hampering the work of the Health Department.