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Act whereby insured persons became entitled to "sanatorium" benefits.
These included treatment at home and treatment in hospitals and
sanatoriums. To meet immediate requirements, the Local Government
Board, whose approval to plans of "sanatorium benefit" is necessary,
issued an Order on July 26th prescribing the manner in which
domiciliary treatment of insured persons suffering from tuberculosis
might be undertaken, at the charge of insurance funds, by any registered
medical practitioner, and provisionally requiring the Medical Officers of
Health of counties and county boroughs to act as consulting officers for
the purpose of the Order.
A (temporary) local committee was formed in Westminster, but
practically the whole of the arrangements for dealing with the subject
fell upon the Medical Officer of Health, working in conjunction with
the Central Insurance Committee for London. Meetings with the
members of the medical profession were held, and a scheme drawn up
for domiciliary treatment. It was never officially sanctioned, but
arrangements made by me with individual medical men on the terms of
the scheme were agreed to by the Central Committee in each case.
This arrangement existed to the middle of January, when a fee of
6d. per head was fixed to be paid on account of the home treatment of
all tuberculous insured persons.
A Departmental Committee was appointed in February " to report
upon the considerations of general policy in respect of the problem of
tuberculosis in the United Kingdom, in its preventive, curative, and
other aspects which should guide the Government and local bodies in
making or aiding provision for the treatment of tuberculosis in sanatoria
or other institutions or otherwise." The Committee presented an
interim report in May in which they outlined a general scheme of
co-ordinated effort for the prevention, detection, and treatment of
tuberculosis.
They advised the establishment throughout the country of organisations
termed for convenience "dispensaries," together with the provision of
sanatoriums, hospitals, and other institutions, including open-air schools.
In London, the borough councils are to be responsible for the outdoor
or dispensary treatment, and the County Council for in-door or
hospital treatment. Several memoranda have been issued by the
Insurance Commission and by the Local Government Board indicating
the methods which may be adopted in carrying out the policy recommended
by the Departmental Committee.
The Local Government Board have indicated that they expect that
all schemes for the treatment of tuberculous patients should include
both insured and uninsured. No general scheme for London has yet
been evolved, but in the boroughs considerable progress has been made
with regard to the " dispensary " side.