View report page

20
Of 4 domiciliary cases—
1 moved into country.
1 went into infirmary and died.
2 received domiciliary treatment.
Of 3 for homes for dying-
All died at home.
There is still reason for complaint that insured patients have to wait
too long before gaining admission to hospitals and sanatoria, but a change
of policy on the part of the Insurance Committee has mitigated this to a
certain extent. Patients are now admitted for a month's treatment.
During this period the patient should learn a good deal as to how to safeguard
his health on sanatorium principles when he returns. He ought
also to have learned how to render his condition non-infectious to others.
If at the end of the month in sanatorium, the case is regarded as a curable
one, then the period of sanatorium treatment is extended for months if
necessary so that the best possible result may be attained. With regard
to chronic cases of moderate severity the first month's treatment may be
extended by a few weeks in order that the patient may pick up his powers
of resistance in healthy surroundings with the help of good nursing,
generous diet and rest. He may hope to return *atly improved in health
and able, perhaps, to resume his occupation at least for a time. Cases
which are not likely to show any improvement from sanatorium treatment
are discharged at the end of the first month. Under this new policy it
is hoped that a larger number of patients may obtain sanatorium treatment
in a given time.
In regard to extra nourishment, the Insurance Committee have
restricted this grant to patients who are waiting for a bed in a
sanatorium and to those who have been recently discharged. This
policy is sound both medically and economically—a striking contrast to
the former indiscriminate dole which was often a placebo to dying cases.
Uninsured patients—
19 patients were recommended to the L.C.C. for institutional treatment.
10 women : 5 received sanatorium treatment, 2 moved out of the
city, 2 refused treatment, 1 went to the infirmary.
9 children received treatment but some of them had to wait four
months before they were admitted.
Very good results were recorded from L.C.C. sanatorium treatment.
Patients were kept in sanatorium for long periods and the disease in most
cases seemed arrested; but the return to homes where there was some
degree of hardship has, unfortunately, in one or two instances, led to the
undoing of this fine achievement.