View report page

2. With School Clinics. All contacts of school age are referred
by the Dispensary to the Divisional School Medical Officer for the
area for special and periodical observation by the School Medical
Officers' and any doubtful case may be referred back to the Dispensary
for special examination.
Co-operation with Medical Practitioners.
Of 553 new patients sent by practitioners to the dispensary for
diagnosis or seen in consultation at their homes, 73.7 per cent,
were seen by the Tuberculosis Officer before notification.
These figures are very satisfactory in a city like London where
patients have such a large choice of hospitals to which practitioners
may send them before notification.
Classification of New Patients.
(a) Pulmonary Tuberculosis. During 1933, 192 patients who
attended the Dispensary for the first time and were found to be
suffering from tuberculosis were reported by the Tuberculosis Officer
to be in the undermentioned stages of the disease at the time of
diagnosis:—
T.B. minus (sputum negative or absent) 58, or 30.20 per cent.
T.B. plus 1 (early cases, sputum positive) 13, or 6.78 per cent.
T.B. plus 2 (intermediate cases, sputum positive) 91, or 47.39 per cent.
T.B. plus 3 (advanced cases, sputum positive) 30, or 15.63 per cent.
(b) Non-Pulmonary Tuberculosis. There were 34 new cases
of non-pulmonary tuberculosis in the following forms: —
Bones, joints and spine.
Abdomen.
Other organs.
Peripheral glands.
Skin.
The Necessity for Early Treatment to Ensure the Prospects
of Recovery.
Under the L.C.C. Residential Institutional Scheme patients
suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis are sent away as a rule
within two weeks of application. Children suffering from tuberculosis
of joints are if possible sent away the day the diagnosis is
made.
Information as to Special Methods of Diagnosis and Treatment
in Use and the Number of Persons to whom these
Special Methods have been Applied.
We have placed chief reliance on accurate history taking,
careful reading of symptoms, temperature charting and pulse