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152
In June, 1938, Dr. N. Lloyd Rusby resigned his appointment as
Assistant Tuberculosis Officer and Dr. T. Penry Evans is now acting in
this capacity.
Home visiting of patients is carried out every Wednesday morning
by Dr. Evans, but any additional cases are seen by Dr. Pritchard on
other days during the week.
Every effort is made to keep in close touch with the general
practitioners in the Borough, and to give them every assistance in the
diagnosis and treatment of their cases which are referred to the Dispensary.
Dr. Pritchard continues to act as Honorary Consultant in Tuberculosis
at St. Giles's Hospital, Camberwell, and attends there every Friday
morning and is in this way enabled to keep in touch with the Southwark
patients in the Hospital.
DIAGNOSIS.
In most cases new patients are referred to the Dispensary for an
opinion by their own Doctors, but sometimes patients present themselves
for examination on their own initiative. The examination of contacts
is a further source of new patients and in every case the examination of
contacts is as thorough as that of a new case.
Early diagnosis of tubercular troubles is important if the results
of treatment are to be successful. 522 patients were sent up by general
practitioners for an opinion during the year.
During this, the third year of its installation, the X-Ray plant
has given even more useful service, and it is felt that the X-Ray plant
has done a great deal towards the Dispensary now being recognised as
the diagnostic centre for chest conditions in this Borough.
The examination of sputum is carried out by the Public Analyst as
it has been done in the past, and the number of examinations made have
been 730. Of this total 176 were positive and 554 were negative.
In addition to the usual physical examination which is carried
out in every case, tuberculin skin tests are employed in the examination
of children. The Mantoux Test is performed by an intradermal injection
of a solution into the forearm which produces a mild local reaction in a
case which has been infected with the tubercle bacillus. It must be
emphasised that infection with the tubercle bacillus does not necessarily
mean that the patient is suffering from tuberculosis as it has been proved