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78
APPENDIX II.
FIRST ANNUAL REPORT
ON
THE KENSINGTON CHRONIC RHEUMATISM CLINIC
BY
JAMES FENTON, C.B.E., M.D., M.R.C.P., D.P.H.,
WILLIAM S. C. COPEMAN, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P., and
HUGH A. BURT, B.A., M.B., B.Ch. (Cantab).
Chronic Rheumatism.
On the 10th May, 1938, the borough council approved a scheme for the treatment at the West London Hospital
of Kensington patients suffering from chronic rheumatism, and made a grant of £2,00 to the Empire Rheumatism
Council in respect of this service. Dr. Hugh A. Burt has been appointed Kensington Clinical Assistant, and conducts
the sessions at which patients from the Royal Borough receive treatment.
The council already have a rheumatism centre for the early diagnosis and supervision of rheumatic fever
in children under the age of 16 years, in respect of which they pay grant to the Princess Louise Kensington Hospital
for Children. Thus the provision now made at the West London hospital makes a complete rheumatism
scheme embracing all ages.
The following report, prefaced by a short note by Dr. W. S. C. Copeman, the physician in charge, shows the
work carried out at the department of the hospital up to the end of the year. Dr. Burt's report is of special interest
in that it refers to the first clinic set up in this country by the Empire Rheumatism Council in collaboration with
a local authority.
Foreword
by W. S. C. COPEMAN, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P.,
Physician m charge of the Department of Chronic Rheumatic Diseases at the west London Hospital.
In the report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health for 1928, it was recommended that the
war against rheumatism could best be furthered by the establishment of arthritis units or departments which, if
possible, should be attached to teaching or general hospitals. Sir Arthur MacNalty, the present Chief Medical
Officer, who has shown himself most sympathetic and interested in this matter, recently confirmed this recommendation
after enquiring further into the whole subject.
The Empire Rheumatism Council was founded in 1936, under the presidency of H.R.H. The Duke of
Gloucester, and one of its first important moves was to approach the West London hospital and the council of the
Royal Borough of Kensington.
The outcome of the discussions between these two progressive authorities was the establishment of the
department of chronic rheumatic diseases at the West London hospital, of which I have the honour to be
physician-in-charge. This is the first complete special department for this purpose to be attached to a teaching
hospital in the British Isles. The interest aroused during the past year by the opening and working of this
department is shown by the fact that the chairman of the Empire Rheumatism Council, Lord Horder, has
visited it on two occasions, as have other officials including Sir William Willcox and Sir Frank Fox, and also
medical men from most of the countries in Europe.
The chairman of the public health committee of the Royal Borough of Kensington, other members of the
council, and the medical officer of health have visited the clinic on several occasions.
To the devoted and skilled work performed by Dr. Hugh Burt, the Kensington clinical assistant, the following
report on the first year's working will bear witness.
In view of the fact that the department has been in existence for so short a time, it has been decided in this first
annual report to include all those treated in the clinic rather than to confine it entirely to those patients from Kensington.
The Work of the Department
by HUGH A. BURT, B.A., M.B., B.Ch. (Cantab).
The department of chronic rheumatism was opened at the West London hospital in the spring of 1938.
A report based on less than a year's work cannot provide information of much statistical value. Nevertheless
there is growing evidence that the department fulfils a real need, and it appears probable that the formation of
further clinics along these lines will prove an invaluable weapon in the fight against rheumatism. For these
reasons this report takes the form of an account of the workings of the department.
Although it is primarily an out-patient department, two or three beds are allotted to it in the main hospital
and as, in addition, pathological and X-ray investigations are carried out by the hospital staff a complete unit is
in existence, the first in this country.