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48
1916]
TUBERCULOSIS DISPENSARY.
The scheme for the Dispensary treatment of Tuberculosis in the Borough,
which was approved by the Council on the 14th June, 1914, has, after protracted
negotiations, been finally approved by the Local Government Board,
the London County Council, the London Insurance Committee, and the
Authorities of the Great Northern Central Hospital and of the Royal Hospital
for Diseases of the Chest, City Road, for the period ending 31st March, 1918.
It will be remembered that the scheme was framed with a view to make
the fullest use of available hospitals in accordance with the expressed desire
of the Local Government Board; that the Great Northern Central Hospital
agreed to provide, at an estimated annual cost of £1,135, a tuberculosis dispensary
at that Institution to serve persons suffering from tuberculosis who
reside in that part of Islington situate north of the North London Railway;
and that the Royal Hospital for Diseases of the Chest agreed to provide at the
dispensary established at that Institution, at an estimated cost of £2,000 per
annum, the necessary services for persons suffering from tuberculosis who
reside in that part of Islington situate south of the North London Railway,
and in the Borough of Shoreditch; also that as regards the latter' dispensary
the cost of the services to be rendered should be shared by the Islington
and Shoreditch Borough Councils.
The scheme has been altered in several respects since it was first approved
by the Council, and the estimates of the cost of the scheme have been
modified.
These modifications were the direct result of the two Hospital Authorities
substantially increasing their estimates on account of the extra cost of drugs
occasioned by the war, the estimated increase in the expenses for attendances
at the dispensaries, and the increase in the amounts provided for the services
of the Tuberculosis Officers, svhereupon it became necessary to again refer the
matter to the Local Government Board. One of the Medical Inspectors of
the Board accordingly interviewed representatives of the two Hospital
Authorities and was instrumental in securing reductions in the case of the
Great Northern Central Hospital from £1,460 to £1,200, and in the case
of the City Road Chest Hospital from £2,225 to £1,950. The estimates
as thus modified only exceeded by £15 the amounts included in the original
scheme. The reductions effected were mainly due to the fact that the
Physicians proposed to be appointed by the Hospital Authorities agreed to
forego, for the present, the honoraria provided for in the original scheme in
respect of services the Physicians might be called upon to render in a