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105
APPENDIX II.
TUBERCULOSIS DISPENSARY
at the
LONDON CHEST HOSPITAL
REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1938
By H. Tylford Howell, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P:,
Clinical Tuberculosis Officer.
No change in the personnel of the department has occurred
during the year. The sessions, which have remained unaltered,
are as follows:—
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday
mornings from 10 to 12 o'clock, and Thursday evenings
from 7.30 to 9 o'clock.
In addition to the above, three sessions are reserved for Artificial
Pneumothorax refills:—
Thursday at 12 and 2 o'clock, and Saturday at 12.30.
Saturday mornings are reserved as far as possible for school
children, and Thursday evenings for those patients who are at
work during the day.
The accommodation of the department is on adequate lines,
comprising, as it does, two large and airy consulting rooms, with
two dressing rooms and a dark room for throat examination
attached to each. In addition there are waiting rooms, offices
for Tuberculosis Officers and Clerk, a laboratory, and rooms for
Artificial Pneumothorax refills.
I intimated in last year's report that it was intended to install
a new X-ray screening apparatus for the sole use of the Outpatient
department. This has now been in use for nearly a year
and has proved a great convenience to us in our refill clinic.
Previously we had to screen our cases in the main X-ray department
of the Hospital, an arrangement that occasionally involved
some delay in favour of more urgent cases. There is now no
waiting, and the saving of time both to the patients and the
Tuberculosis Officer is appreciated.
A happy and close working arrangement with the Hospital
offers us unique facilities for specialist opinion in the various
departments of the Hospital. Personal interviews with the
various members of the Staff are of daily occurrence, and we are
grateful to the Physicians and Surgeons, Laryngologists, Radiologists,
Pathologists and Dentist, who have so willingly given us
the benefit of their opinions and advice.
1,208 cases were referred to the X-ray department alone, an
increase of 37 over the previous year. It is now our practice to
X-ray all patients whose symptoms or general condition are in
any way suggestive of tuberculosis, even in the absence of physical