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the mornings is a Saturday, when school children can attend without
missing time from school. It is generally necessary to extend a
session beyond the advertised closing time, but patients must reach
the hospital before 12 noon and 9 p.m. respectively. It often
happens that several new cases present themselves just at the close,
with the result that perhaps an extra hour is added to the session.
This could be remedied if the new cases were directed to attend
before 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. respectively.
In difficult cases, when special examinations are necessary, the
assistance of the Out-patient Physicians, the Radiologist, the Laryngologist
and the Surgeon has been most useful, and personal interview
with these members of the staff, such as is possible at Victoria
Park Hospital, is much more valuable than a written opinion. The
services of the Dentist in the extraction of teeth have been a valuable
aid to treatment.
The help of charitable societies, such as the Invalid Children's
Aid Association, the Jewish Board of Guardians, and the Charity
Organisation Society, has been extremely valuable, for although the
London Insurance Committee and the London County Council are
responsible for providing hospital or sanatorium treatment for
definitely diagnosed tubercular cases, there is no state provision for
obtaining convalescent treatment for adults and children who are in
ill-health, and who may be suffering from early tuberculosis. Such
treatment, especially in children, is often the means of averting the
onset of serious disease. In this connection special mention should
again be made of the excellent work which is done through the
Hackney branch of the Invalid Children's Aid Association in sending
a large number of "pre-tuberculous" children into the country
for prolonged convalescence, and, in addition, in following up the
cases by visiting the homes for purposes of after-care.
The after-care of uninsured tuberculous patients is in the hands
of the Interim Tuberculosis Care Committee, which in the case