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maintenance while away. Each case is carefully considered on its merits
and the family circumstances taken into consideration.
The Invalid Children's Aid Association has been especially good in
getting homes and treatment for the little patients, and their preventive
work in this direction has been most valuable.
Thanks are also due to Miss Ashe who has so kindly and efficiently
filled the office of Honorary Secretary to the Committee, a post which
has entailed much thought and work, which have been ungrudgingly
given.
As regards insured persons, the Local Government Board Regulations
as to Domiciliary Treatment have added largely to the work of the
Dispensary, as all cases under panel doctors as Domiciliary Cases have
to be reported on periodically by their doctors, and the onus of seeing
that this is done falls upon the Tuberculosis Medical Officer whose duty
it is to collect and forward these certificates. In Southwark the patients
are seen more frequently than the Regulations require, with it is hoped
additional benefit to the patient.
In addition to the home work done by your nurses on the patients
attending the Dispensary, a very large number of visits is paid to the
homes of others who for some reason do not attend but prefer to keep
under care of their own doctor for treatment, or more often need no
active treatment.
These cases we find through the notification of the disease, every
notified case being visited whether attending the Dispensary or not, and
the contacts examined wherever possible, while the hygienic conditions
are attended to and sputum flasks and leaflets of simple, instructions distributed
to the patients. Thus the influence of the Dispensary extends
beyond the boundaries of the cases attending and practically reaches the
home of every tuberculous patient.
The staff of the Dispensary is the same as last year, and although
the work steadily increases it is hoped that during the war it will not be
necessary to ask for any additional assistance. The whole staff has
worked very hard under the increasing pressure, and great credit and
thanks are due to them for the manner in which the work has been
carried on.
During the year 241 insured and 233 non-insured persons were added
to the list of the patients already attending the Dispensary suffering from
some form of Tuberculosis.