View report page

The homes of patients notified were visited during the year,
and where the patients were being treated at home, revisits as
required were made. These visits and revisits are carried out
by the district sanitary inspectors and health visitors acting
under the supervision of the Medical Officer of Health. An
enquiry is conducted into the history of each case, the results of
of which are recorded on a card-index register. The sanitary
condition of the home is investigated, and any unsatisfactory
condition found remedied. Particular attention is devoted to
searching for suspected cases or contacts, i.e., members of
patient's family or persons living in the same house exhibiting
signs of ill-health of a suspicious nature, with a view to urging
them to seek early medical advice. Advice both written and oral
is given to the patient or his friends for the prevention of the
spread of infection; sputum vessels are provided free of charge
where needed, and disinfection is carried out at frequent intervals.
Facilities for the bacteriological examination of the sputum of
suspected cases of tuberculosis are provided by the Council free
of charge to medical practitioners practising in the Borough.
Women and children patients are visited by the female
inspectorial staff, six hundred and forty visits and revisits having
been paid to the homes of women and children patients by the
female inspectors.
At the end of 1912, the number of children in the Borough
notified to be suffering from consumption was 158.
Enquiries made showed that 62 of these children have been
exposed to infection at home. In the cases of 50 of these children
there was a history of tuberculosis in a relative of the patient.
Seven children died from consumption during the year. Two
deaths were of children under two years of age.
In two cases the children developed consumption after an
attack of whooping-cough.