Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Report on the sanitary condition of the Hackney District for the year 1911
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definite agencies there has occurred in Edinburgh from 1887 onwards
the gradual evolution of an anti-tuberculosis scheme, including the
dispensary, with its system of domiciliary visitation, etc."
"The charts show how, from 1887 onwards, the mortality from
tuberculosis has fallen progressively. The Edinburgh fall during the
latter ten years is especially striking. It is quite out of proportion to
that of the preceding ten years, and remarkably more rapid than that
shown in the London curve. It seems fair to associate this to some
degree with the development of the completer organisation."
3. The cost of establishing and maintaining a Tuberculosis Dispensary.
This of course will vary with the character of the institution and
the extent of its operations. The Edinburgh Dispensary has been
established now over 23 years and has grown into an institution of
considerable magnitude, and the extent of its operations has grown
pari passu. There are now six physicians attending at this dispensary,
four of whom are salaried, and two honorary; and the patients
receiving treatment at the dispensary during the year April 1st, 1909,
to March 31st, 1910, numbered 20,119.
In London two tuberculosis dispensaries have been established
on the lines of the Edinburgh system, viz., at Paddington and at
St. Marylebone. The former has been working two years; the latter
has only just been opened. In three other Boroughs dispensaries
are being founded.
The cost of establishing a tuberculosis dispensary suitable for a
London Borough need not be very great. In the first annual report
issued by the Committee managing the Paddington Dispensary the
following account is given
Cost of altering and fitting up premises taken on £ s. d.
lease 127 17 10
Funiture and fixtures 100 18 6
Instruments and appliances 17 11 0
£246 7 4
The maintenance for the year, including Salaries
and Wages, Rent, Rates and Taxes, Drugs
and Sundry Expenses £787 11 1