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51
Home Visits.
During the year 188 visits were paid by the Tuberculosis
Officer to patients in their own homes. No home treatment is
undertaken, but visits are paid at the request of the Ministry of
Pensions to ex-service men, pensioners for tuberculosis, who are
unable to attend the Dispensary, in consultation with general practitioners,
and in cases where the home conditions on the report of the
Nurse or otherwise appear to require a special visit. It has been
found impossible to visit the home of every notified patient.
Visits by Nurses.
The home visits paid by the Dispensary Nurses during the year
numbered 6,942. As far as possible the home of each notified case
on the Dispensary books is visited at intervals of three months, and
notes of such visits are entered by the Nurses on a special card.
Each week the Tuberculosis Officer goes over the week's cards with
the Nurses, who call his attention to any special circumstance which
may require his attention. Where the home conditions are found to
be unsatisfactory and when a Dispensary patient is in a residential
Institution, home visits by the Nurses are paid more frequently.
In addition to the visits paid by the Dispensary Nurses, 136 visits
were made by students from the Battersea Polytechnic.

Bacteriological Examinations.
The number of sputum examinations increased from 925 last
year to 1,132. In 302 (26·7 per cent.) cases the Tubercle Bacillus
was found to be present. In doubtful cases repeated sputum
examinations are carried out. This part of the work increases from