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43
tuberculous patients. The services of a skilled dental surgeon and
anaesthetist are available for patients attending the tuberculosis dispensary.
Ex-service patients are not entitled to treatment as they are
already provided for by the Ministry of Pensions. Four patients have
been treated since October, 1920. A scheme is under consideration
whereby patients may obtain dentures, part of the cost being borne by
the Council or a charitable agency.
(x) Nursing.—Until two years ago the district nursing associations
gave their services gratuitously for bedridden consumptives. A charge
of 1s. 3d. is now imposed for each nursing visit. Most dispensary patients
are unable to pay this charge and a scheme is being drafted whereby the
nursing of those cases may form a legitimate expense in the Council's
scheme for the treatment of tuberculosis.
Extra Nourishment is provided for tuberculous ex-service men through
the Insurance Committee from funds supplied by the Ministry of Pensions.
The recommendation is made by the tuberculosis officer and it is always
agreed to. Extra food for civilians is obtained with very great difficulty
and then only for three months after discharge from sanatorium. No
provision for extra nourishment is made for uninsured patients. The
tuberculosis officer has sometimes been able to obtain small doles for
short periods from church charities and similar bodies. If patients can
bring themselves to appeal to the Guardians they are always generously
treated in the matter of extra nourishment.
(xi) Non-pubnonary Tuberculosis—Treatment of.—As already alluded
to in the first paragraph of this report, cases of this nature are as a matter
of tradition treated in the appropriate departments of the great hospitals
of the City. They are sent there by their doctors or naturally gravitate
there of their own accord. The tuberculosis officer is sometimes requested
to co-operate with the hospitals in obtaining convalescent or sanatorium
treatment for such cases. In this way a number of insured patients
are sent to the Sea Bathing Hospital at Margate. A very few cases of
spine and hip disease have, with the kind co-operation of Sir Henry
Gauvain, been sent to Lord Mayor Treloar's Hospital at Alton. Only
children up to the age of 12 are taken at Alton. The period of treatment
there is usually prolonged beyond six months and as the number of beds
is limited, the waiting list for admission is a long one. The Invalid
Children's Aid Association, a voluntary body which receives subsidy from
public funds, works closely in touch with the hospitals in the matter of
obtaining convalescent treatment for orthopaedic cases. This body is
also largely instrumental in assisting patients in the purchase of surgical