View report page

95
with the Ministry of Labour, to arrange for the local employment bureaux to
secure work under favourable conditions for suitable persons on the recommendation
of the Tuberculosis Officer, but it has proved a complete failure. The Tuberculosis
Care Committees have also made strenuous efforts in this direction with
occasional success, but they too are greatly handicapped by the present economic
position, and by their own lack of funds. Recently, however, there has been
opened in Holborn the Spero Leather Factory, under the aegis of the Ministry of
Health and the London County Council, and to this a few of our patients have
secured admission. Before being taken on, the majority of the men receive
training in the fancy leather trade at King George V Sanatorium at Godalming,
and on commencing their work at the factory have already attained a considerable
degree of proficiency. They are, moreover, specially chosen from the point of
view of character and temperament, and carry out their duties under carefully
arranged conditions. The scheme appears to hold out prospects of success, though
the question of the provision of an adequate wage is a difficult one. I have
suggested previously that local workshops conducted on similar lines would provide
the most ready solution of the problem, and the above experiment would
appear to justify an extension of the scheme.
The Tuberculosis Officers are still engaged in the capacity of Medical Referees
for the Ministry of Pensions. This work is diminishing somewhat, but it is still
arduous and exacting, and entails an amount of attention out of proportion to the
number of cases seen.
For certain patients whose financial circumstances and clinical condition
warrant it, the Boroughs' scheme for the provision of additional nourishment has
proved a great boon. While an expenditure of only £2 per 1,000 population is
permitted, yet by a careful selection of cases I think the maximum obtainable
b3nefit has been conferred, and the grant has invariably been received with
grateful appreciation, and in my experience never abused.
A perusal of the statistical tables appended below will show that the Dispensary
maintains its position as a consulting centre in the boroughs. It is not to be
expected that these figures would show any striking variation as compared with
those of recent years, and it would appear that the work of the department has
found a point of equilibrium at which it is likely to remain for some time. Thus
the new cases in Hackney are slightly fewer than they were in 1924, but this has
been offset by a corresponding increase in Bethnal Green, so that the total for the
year for both boroughs is practically unchanged. Under the circumstances I do
not propose to enter into a detailed examination of the figures presented, but I
would like to draw attention to one branch of the work which I consider to be of the
highest importance, namely, the frequent and complete systematic examinations
made of patients attending the Dispensary. It will be seen that these amount to
5,145, while the total number of attendances for the year has been 10,066, i.e.,
rather more than one examination per two attendances. The value of this in
gauging the progress made, the indications as to fitness, or otherwise for work,
and the necessity for the alteration of treatment from time to time, will be readily
appreciated.