View report page

52
(iii) afford or supply all such assistance, facilities, or articles
as, within such reasonable limits as the circumstances of the case
require and allow, will obviate, or remove, or diminish the risk of
infection arising from the conditions affecting the use or occupation
of any room, when used or occupied by the poor person as a
sleeping apartment; and
(iv) furnish, for the use of the poor person, on loan, or
otherwise, any appliance, apparatus or utensil which will be of
assistance for the purpose of any precaution against the spread of
infection.
A Council, on the advice of their Medical Officer of Health, may
provide and publish or distribute in the form of placards, handbills,
or leaflets, suitable summaries of information and instruction respecting
pulmonary tuberculosis, and the precautions to be taken against the
spread of infection from that disease.
At the end of the Order the following appears:—
"Notice.—The Public Health Act, 1896, provides, by Subsection 3
of Section 1, that, if any person wilfully neglects or refuses to obey or
carry out, or obstructs the execution of, any regulation made under any
of the enactments mentioned in that Act, he shall be liable to a penalty
not exceeding £100; and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further
penalty not exceeding £50 for every day during which the offence
continues."
The Board subsequently issued a valuable memorandum by their
medical officer, setting out the appropriate action that can be taken
under these powers.
A system of voluntary notification of pulmonary tuberculosis was
instituted in Westminster by the Council in the early part of 1903, and
up to the end of 1908 information had been received of 700 cases.
During 1907-8 the several medical officers of Poor Law Institutions
co-operated. Many of the recommendations as to administrative action
had already been adopted, and in previous reports I have detailed the
action which has been taken. The promulgation of the Order, and the
increased interest which has been taken in the subject, has resulted in
a greater number of private cases of the disease being brought to the
notice of the Medical Officer of Health, and to further measures being
taken by the Council. One of these arose from a representation made
by the City of Westminster Health Society, when the Council agreed
to set aside a sum of £350 per annum to enable consumptive patients
to be sent to a sanatorium for a stay of limited duration, chiefly for
educational purposes.
The advantages of such a scheme are thus described by Dr. Newsholme
in the memorandum:—