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FULHAM CHEST CLINIC,
Western Hospital,
Seangrave Road,
S.W.6.
ANNUAL REPORT-1953.
The year 1958 was yet another milestone in the history of the Fulham
Chest Clinic for during April the Clinic moved from its old home at 114,
New King's Road to reconstructed premises in the grounds of the Western
Hospital, Seagrave Road, The process of moving and becoming established in
the new quarters interfered considerably with the routine work during the
June quarter.
Considerable discussion had taken place since 1948 regarding a possible
future site for the Clinic. The isolated site in the New King's Road was
satisfactory when tuberculosis was the only disease treated at that Dispensary
and the general attitude pre-war both medical and lay towards tuberculosis as
an infectious disease decreed its separation from the rest of general medicine.
Three factors influenced the final settlement to develop the Clinic at
the Western Hospital.
A radical change has taken place in the public attitude to this
erstwhile killing disease due to the vastly improved prognosis resulting from
the introduction and standardisation of chemotherapeutic methods of treatment
which has also made it possible now to treat this disease much more rapidly and
effectively in all its forms in general hospitals. This change of attitude
especially amongst the younger age groups has done much to overcome their
reluctance to come forward for x-ray and investigation at Mass X-Ray Units and
Chest Clinics and to accept treatment. The Chest Clinic or Tuberculosis
Dispensary came into being within the old poor law system of treatment for the
heedy and developed as a part of the Local Authority Health Services with their
emphasis on the prevention and epidemological aspects of the disease. The poor
response by patients to any known therapy tended to accentuate the clinical
isolation of the old tuberculosis from the main stream of medical science.
The introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 with the
integration of the tuberculosis service into the Hospital service coincided
with the first use of streptomycin therapy sounded the knell of the old type
of chest service. All these factors pointed to Fulham Hospital as the obvious
choice for the final development of the Chest Clinic in the area, but this
depended on the rebuilding of this Hospital and especially of its Out-Patient
Department. When it became obvious that the original plans for Fulham Hospital
were unlikely to materialise in the immediate future, to which was added the
uncertainty as to whether the Hospital would remain in the Fulham and Kensington
Hospital Management Committee area, finally the logical development that has
taken place generally in the Chest Service with the widening of the clinical scope
to include all diseases of the chest and heart it was, therefore, decided to
develop the Chest Clinic in the grounds of the Western Hospital.
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