View report page

85
Thirty-nine of the 105 cases attended the Holborn Tuberculosis Dispensary.
The following indicates the reasons for non-attendance in the remaining
cses—
Removed to Hospitals, etc., for treatment without prior
attendance at Dispensary 23
Out-patients at other Hospitals or Dispensaries 5
Dead before notification or died before attendance at
Dispensary 24
Treatment at home by private doctor 2
Not traced 3
Removed from Borough 8
Not tuberculosis—notification withdrawn 1
66
Delayed Notification.
The Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1912, require notification within
48 hours of the medical practitioner first becoming aware that the person is
Buffering from tuberculosis. It is still found that medical practitioners do not
notify cases of this disease until tubercle bacilli have been found in the sputum
and in a number of cases notifications are not received until the death of the
patient or shortly before death takes place. In the past year eight cases were
notified only at death, eleven within one month of death, four within three months
and five within six months of death. Twenty-five of these cases died in hospitals.
It is unfortunate that by a proviso in the Regulations of 1912, a medical
practitioner is not required to notify a case of tuberculosis if he has reasonable
grounds for believing that the case has already been notified. It would seem that
any disadvantage accruing from duplication would be easily outweighed by the
advantage of the additional encouragement to promote early notification which
would ensue from the withdrawal of this proviso from the Regulations.
The Regulations also require notification of the admission and discharge of
patients to poor law institutions and sanatoria.
Institutional Treatment.
During the year notifications were received of 86 admissions to institutions.
These admissions represent 69 patients, some of whom are transferred from one
institution to another, and others are discharged, or take their own discharge,
and subsequently are re-admitted.
The 86 admissions were to the following institutions : —
Poor Law Institutions 29
Institutions of the Metropolitan Asylums Board 31
Other Institutions 26
Fourteen of these admissions were transfers from one institution to another
or re-admissions.
Visits to Homes, etc.
During 1928 the Tuberculosis Officer made 46 visits to the homes of patients,
The general visitation of the patients and supervision of home conditions is carried
out by the Tuberculosis Nurses who made 1,189 visits.