View report page

167
APPENDIX.
REPORT OF THE TUBERCULOSIS OFFICER.
TUBERCULOSIS DISPENSARY.
May 1st to December 31st, 1914.
I beg to present my report on the work of the Tuberculosis
Dispensary from May 1st to December 31st, 1914.
On May 1st I undertook my duties as Tuberculosis Officer in the
service of the Borough Council, and from that period until December
31st the work was carried on in the temporary premises at the Reception
House in King James Street.
During that period a Secretary-Dispenser has been appointed, whose
duties include the keeping of the necessary records and registers, the
shorthand and typewriting, and the compounding of medicines, with the
charge of the Dispensary.
Two Nurses have been appointed whose duties are to attend the
Dispensary during the hours at which the patients are seen, to take the
histories of patients, their family histories, weigh them, and keep records
of their temperatures.
At other times to visit the patients' homes, give the necessary
advice to each case, distribute sputum flasks and leaflets of instructions,
and induce as far as possible the contacts of the cases to undergo
examination for the detection of early disease. The patients receive
instruction as to the best methods of disposal of sputum, and by these
means it is intended to check the spread of the disease.
Of the contact cases examined, undetected infection by the tubercule
bacillus was found in 11.2 per cent. of the cases, and early and
suitable treatment advised.
Owing to the necessity of using the Reception House for its original
purpose and the growth of the work, new premises were acquired, and
they were opened on January 1st, 1915, at 82 and 84, Newington
Causeway. There is ample accommodation, and the premises are in
every way suitable for the purpose, and will allow of extension as necessity
arises.
The more scientific tests are applied in doubtful cases, and every
facility is given to practitioners to avail themselves of the services of the
dispensary for consultations, or to have these tests applied.