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The Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1911, which
came into operation on January 1st, 1912, extended the compulsory
notification to all cases of pulmonary tuberculosis
coming under the notice of medical practitioners.
These Regulations imposed special duties upon the Medical
Officer of Health, more particularly in regard to the investigation
of probable factors concerned in producing the disease,
in dealing with contacts, the institution of measures to prevent
infection, the removal of insanitary conditions, and in aiding
the patient himself or any other patients who might be discovered.
In a circular letter accompanying these Regulations the
Local Government Board pointed out that much progress had
been made in the organization of preventive measures against
the disease. The Board drew attention to the fact that local
authorities would be enabled to take action with a view of
preventing the spread of infection or removing conditions
favourable to infection, and emphasised the fact that in a
disease like tuberculosis the prevention of infection and the.
treatment of the patient frequently cannot be separated. The
Board further pointed out that local authorities were empowered
to establish dispensaries, and on the advice of the
Medical Officer of Health to provide medical assistance and
such facilities and articles as may be necessary for the detection
of the disease and the prevention of its spread. Power
was also given to appoint any necessary additional officers.
The next important measure bearing upon the subject is
the National Insurance Act, 1911, under which sanatorium
benefits are provided. The term Sanatorium Benefit is a comprehensive
one, and includes treatment in a sanatorium or
approved dispensary and the home treatment of persons suffering
from tuberculosis. Although these institutions are provided
in the first instance to grapple with the scourge of consumption,
the Local Government Board may, with the consent of the
Treasury, enlarge the field of action and include cancer,
syphilis, and other diseases.
The administration of sanatorium benefit for insured persons
has been entrusted in London to the County Insurance Committee.
For uninsured persons the local authority is still
responsible.
By far the most important step yet taken in the effort
to deal with the problem of tuberculosis in the United Kingdom
was the appointment in February this year of a Departmental