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This form merely refers the patient to the Dispensary for an
opinion. Part II of the form should be completed accurately and
sent to the Medical Officer of Health, the patient being given instructions
to attend the Dispensary, and Part I be retained by the doctor.
The following advantages are claimed for this system : —
(1) The doctor would examine his patient. Many doctors
send cases to the dispensary without having personally
examined them as a preliminary.
(2) The doctor merely expresses an opinion, and it is for the
Medical Officer of Health or the Tuberculosis Officer
to accept or modify the diagnosis after careful investigation
(including X-ray examination, observation in
Hospital, etc.) over a longer or shorter period of time, as
the case may be. Some cases would be rejected and some
retained as Tuberculous. These latter cases would be
entered in the Notification Register, and, of course, the
doctor would be informed of the diagnosis and registration.
(3) De-notification would be simple since the notifying practitioner
would be the Medical Officer of Health or the
Tuberculosis Officer.
The question of notification fee would certainly be raised, and the
fee should be adequate, and an accurate completion of the form
required. Undoubtedly, wilful cases of non-notification would occur
in the more well-to-do districts, and these could only be met by
removing the excusing phrases in the present regulations, and
prosecuting on every possible occasion.
What will the patient gain from this modified system of notification?
He will have an accurate diagnosis, in all probability made
much earlier than at present. At the same time he will be protected
from unnecessary notification if he is not suffering from Tuberculosis.
Recently a case was sent to the Bermondsey Dispensary as
Tuberculosis of the Cervical Glands, peeling freely all over, and
having a history of a rash and a sore throat three weeks previously.
(11408)q
D 2
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