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53
In the meantime the Law and General Purposes Committee
communicated with the Health Committee suggesting that the
question might receive their consideration, and that the Medical
Officer of Health should be asked to prepare an exhaustive report
on the whole subject, and then furnish the Law and General
Purposes Committee with a copy of the report and the conclusions
of the Health Committee thereon.
On the instructions of the Health Committee a report was
prepared by the Medical Officer of Health. In view of the fact
that the preparation of a draft general scheme for London was
being considered by the London County Council, the report of the
Medical Officer of Health was necessarily limited to the question
as it most immediately affected the Borough Council, with special
reference to the function of the Tuberculosis Dispensary, forming
as it does, one of the two units in the scheme outlined in the
Departmental Committee's report. In that report the Committee
suggest that as regards London, the Borough Councils should
be the Authorities responsible for their provision.
The report of the Medical Officer of Health was submitted
to the Council on the 27th November.
In connection with the administration of the Sanatorium Benefit under
the National Insurance Act, 1911, certain additional important duties devolve
upon the Borough Council as the Sanitary Authority for Battersea, and it is
necessary for the Council to prepare a scheme by which these additional
duties will be effectively carried out. To quote from the Interim Report of
the Departmental Committee, "the scheme which the Committee desire to
recommend for the prevention, detection and treatment of the disease is
intended to complete existing Public Health Administration in respect of
Tuberculosis, and is based on the establishment and equipment of two units
related to the Public Health and Medical work carried on by the Medical
Officers of Health as described later and working in harmony with the General
Practitioners. The first unit consists of the Tuberculosis Dispensary or an
equivalent staff as set out in this report. The second unit consists of Sanatoria,
Hospitals, &c., in which Institutional treatment is given. . . . The
Committee are of opinion that the Tuberculosis Dispensary should be the
common Centre for the diagnosis and for the organisation of treatment of
Tuberculosis in each area at which the various bodies and persons connected
with the campaign against Tuberculosis will be brought together. The aim
should be that no single case of Tuberculosis should remain uncared for in the
community, and that whatever services the scheme provides should be
available for all cases of the disease."
It is with the first, or Dispensary unit, that the Council will have to deal.
The Report sets out what the functions of the Tuberculosis Dispensary
should be :—-
1. Receiving house and centre of diagnosis.
2. Clearing house and centre for observation.
3. Centre for curative treatment.
4. Centre for the examination of " contacts."
5. Centre for "After Care."
6. Information Bureau and educational Centre.