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131
APPENDIX II.
TUBERCULOSIS DISPENSARY.
REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1930.
By H. Tylford Howell, M.R.C.S., Eng., L.R.C.P., Lond.,
Clinical Tuberculosis Officer.
For the third year in succession I am pleased to report that there has
been no change in the personnel of the Dispensary. No radical alteration
in the routine of the department has been introduced during the year, and
the sessions have remained the same. Patients are seen on Monday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings from 10 to 12 o'clock;
Wednesday evenings from 5.30 to 7; and on Thursday evenings from 7.30
to 9 o'clock. Saturday mornings are reserved as far as possible for school
children, and the evening sessions for those who are at work during the
day, but these reservations are not strictly adhered to, if it is found inconvenient
for any particular patient to attend during one of the morning
sessions.
Patients may attend during any part of the session, and are seen strictly
in order of their arrival at the Hospital irrespective of whether they are
old or new cases. This arrangement reduces the period of waiting to a
minimum.
The accommodation at our disposal in respect of office, consulting-rooms,
waiting-rooms and laboratory is convenient and in every way satisfactory.
I have previously commented on the fact that the ample dressing-room
accommodation enables the Tuberculosis Officers to work speedily and yet
ensures privacy for the patients while adding materially to their comfort.
Structural alterations recently completed have further helped by enabling a
patient to leave these rooms direct instead of through the consul ting-rooms
as previously.
The two medical officers work in close co-operation, frequently consulting
one another on questions of diagnosis and treatment, or on any special point
of difficulty that may arise in any particular case. Further facilities for
consultations are available in the various departments of the hospital.
There happily exists a close association with the members of the hospital
staff which is of inestimable value, since it affords every opportunity for
personal interviews. This not only enables us to discuss individual cases,
but the daily contact with physicians who treat general diseases tends to
prevent a restricted clinical outlook which might be inclined to develop in
one whose work is limited to Tuberculosis. This contact, moreover, acts as
a stimulant to careful work.
A considerable number of cases was referred for an opinion to the
Physicians, Surgeons, Laryngologist, Radiologist, and Dentist, while the
Pathologists carried out investigations which could not be undertaken in
our own laboratory.