London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Chelsea 1925

Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health for Chelsea, 1925

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Chelsea Tuberculosis Dispensary. This Dispensary, located at
Brompton Hospital, provides highly efficient treatment for all cases
resident in the Borough. An annual grant is paid to the Hospital by
the Borough Council to provide for all necessary medical, nursing and
other services. Table No. 42 shows the work done by the Dispensary
during 1925, while Table No. 43 summarises, for the years 1921-1925,
the number of persons examined at the Dispensary for the first time,
the percentage of these cases in which definite tuberculosis was found,
and the total attendances at the Dispensary.

TABLE No. 43. Work done at the Dispensary, 1921-1925.

Year.Number of Persons examined for the first time.Definite Tuberculosis.Total attendances at Dispensary.
192157210 per cent.3,210
1922507113,268
1923442172,932
1924429163,416
1925357133,002

In addition to the visits to homes of patients made by the Dispensary
staff and recorded in Table No. 42, 60 new cases of Pulmonary and
Non-Pulmonary Tuberculosis were visited by the Municipal Tuberculosis
Visitor in the course of the year. The total number of visits paid by
her in respect of all cases of Tuberculosis and suspected Tuberculosis was
492. This official also paid 892 visits in connection with the Public
Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1924.
Institutional Treatment. The London County Council is mainly
responsible for the institutional treatment of Tuberculosis in London.
No institution is maintained by the County Council in the Borough.
The Metropolitan Asylums Board maintains St. George's Home, in
Milmans Street, Chelsea, as a hospital for advanced pulmonary disease
in women. There is accommodation for 50 cases, which are drawn from
all parts of the metropolis. The majority of advanced cases of pulmonary
tuberculosis in Chelsea are isolated and treated in St. Luke's Hospital
under the Board of Guardians, while a smaller proportion receive treatment
in other public institutions. Of the pulmonary cases which terminated
fatally in 1925, 40 per cent. died in St. Luke's Hospital and
30 per cent. in other public institutions, that is to say 70 per cent. died
away from their homes, the corresponding figure for 1924 being 66, and
for 1923, 71 per cent.
Co-operation with Hospitals and Invalid Children's Aid Association.
Existing arrangements with general and special hospitals in the neighbourhood
continue to give satisfaction. Cases under treatment at