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65
Treatment of Tuberculosis—Local Scheme for Dispensary
Treatment—Poplar.
Extract from Minutes of the London County Council at a meeting held, on
Tuesday, 13th October, 1914, at 2.30.
2. The Poplar Metropolitan Borough Council, in connection with
the dispensary treatment of tuberculosis persons in the borough, proposes
to utilise the Borough of Poplar Dispensary for the Prevention of Consumption,
an institution opened in April, 1912, which has been supported
entirely by voluntary contributions. The borough council's scheme
provides for the examination and treatment of tuberculous persons in
the borough, and for the examination of contacts and suspects either at
the dispensary or in the home. The dispensary is linked up with the
London Hospital, to which doubtful and specially difficult cases are
referred.
The total annual expenditure of the dispensary is estimated as
£2,246, and the scheme provides that the borough council shall pay to
the dispensary committee a sum at the rate of £1,200 a year on condition
that such payment shall in no year exceed 50 per cent. of the total expenditure
of the dispensary committee during that year. We are of opinion
that this is a saisfactory arrangement, and on the assumption that 85 per
cent. of the persons treated will be uninsured, and that the Council
contributes one-fourth of the cost of their treatment the expenditure
falling on the county fund will not exceed £255 during the current year.
The borough council proposes to take steps to recover the cost of treatment
of uninsured persons in those cases in which the patients are able to pay,
but it is anticipated that such cases will be very exceptional.
The agreement between the borough council and the authorities of
the London Hospital provides that the first 25 cases referred in any year
from the dispensary to the hospital shall be treated free of charge, and
that, in respect of any additional cases, a fee of 2s. 6d. shall be paid.
The borough council assumes that not more than 25 cases will be so referred
during the year, and no provision is made in the estimate in respect
of any expenditure under this head.
We considered whether the needs of the persons residing in the Isle
of Dogs required special consideration, having regard to the fact that
this area is to a great extent cut off by the docks from the rest of the
borough, and it occurred to us that it might be desirable for a clause
to be inserted in the agreement with the dispensary committee to the
effect that, if found necessary, they would provide a small branch dispensary
for the convenience of these persons. The borough council