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99
PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
It is essential, the circular points out, that arrangements should be
made for the complete co-ordination of the work of the dispensary with
the preventive work of the Borough Council and their officers under
the Tuberculosis Regulations, 1912. In the case of a dispensary
established by a Borough Council this will be secured by attaching
the medical officers of the dispensary to the staff of the Public Health
Department of the Council, it being understood that although these
officers are independent of control in clinical matters they will act
under the administrative supervision of the medical officer of health.
As regards dispensaries established at hospitals, it will be necessary
to appoint a medical officer with suitable qualifications to take charge
of the work of the dispensary, and arrangements should be made for
complete interchange of information between him and the medical
officer of health. The duties of the former should include the
examination of "contacts" and "suspects." The examination would
usually take place at the dispensary, but the officer should be prepared
to visit, for this purpose, the homes of patients in cases where this is
necessary.
Similar arrangements will apply in the case of voluntary dispensaries.
It is suggested that unnecessary duplication of visits can be avoided by
arranging that the officers of the dispensary shall be available, so far
as practicable, to undertake, under the direction of the medical officer
of health, the domiciliary visits and inquiries under the tuberculosis
regulations.
Under the Board's Order of July, 1912, the medical officer of an
approved dispensary becomes the "consulting officer" for insured
persons resident in the area who are receiving sanatorium benefit in
the form of domiciliary treatment. It has usually been found convenient
to arrange that insured persons applying for sanatorium benefit
should be referred in the first instance to the appropriate dispensary for
examination, and it is considered desirable that any arrangements
which may be made with the London Insurance Committee for the
provision of dispensary services for insured persons should provide that
the medical officer of the dispensary will be available to examine such
persons and report to the committee and to attend their meetings when
required.
FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS.
It appears to the Board that where the scheme of the Borough
Council includes any voluntary dispensary, whether attached to a
hospital or not, it is desirable that the contributions of the Borough
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