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service, including visits to Gatliff Road and Monck Street Public Cleansing
Depots to X-ray members of the City Council's staff. During the years
1959 to 1962 a total of 229,908 examinations of men over 45 were made
under this scheme in South London. Ninety-five cases of lung cancer
were discovered as a result of the 63,524 initial examinations carried
out, i.e., a rate of 1.5 per thousand, and the 166,384 repeat examinations
revealed 115 cases, i.e., 0.69 per thousand.
In connection with this service, periodic visits were made throughout
the year to sites at Burlington Gardens, W.l, Horse Guards Avenue and
Victoria, S.W.I, and Strand, W.C.2. During these visits, members of
the public, and staff working in adjacent premises, were also X-rayed.
In all, 26 visits were made and these, together with frequent visits of
Mobile Units to firms, etc., ensured that during most weeks of the year
at least one Unit of the South West London Mass X-Ray Service was
operating within the boundaries of the City of Westminster. It is felt
that special mention should be made here of the assistance which is
received from the Metropolitan Police Force and the Traffic Wardens'
Offices, without whose co-operation over the parking of the vehicles it
would not be possible to provide X-ray facilities at such easily accessible
sites in the central area of London.
One of the notable events of the year was the acquisition of a new
Mobile Unit for South West London, which was first brought into service
in May, 1963, when a visit was made to the Houses of Parliament, where
the vehicle was parked in Black Rod's Garden. On the 20th May,
Mr. S. Ripley, Chairman of the South West Metropolitan Regional
Hospital Board welcomed the then Minister of Health, The Rt. Hon.
J. Enoch Powell, M.P., who came to inspect the Unit. During the course
of this visit, which was made primarily to X-ray the staff, a great many
Peers and Members of the House of Commons took the opportunity of
looking at one of the most up-to-date Mobile Mass X-ray Units, and of
being X-rayed in it.
During the year under review, the three Units of the South West
London Mass X-Ray Service carried out 102,208 chest X-ray examinations.
Two hundred and sixty-nine cases were referred with radiological
abnormalities suggestive of clinically significant pulmonary tuberculosis.
One hundred and sixty were referred with radiological abnormalities
suggestive of neoplasm requiring further study. In addition, 277 cases of
non-tuberculous miscellaneous conditions requiring further study were
referred, making a total of 706 referrals to Chest Clinics.
Residents of Westminster are again invited to make full use of the
Mass X-Ray Service whenever a Mobile Unit is within convenient reach
of them. An appeal is also made to firms and organisations to co-operate
in the effort being made to eliminate tuberculosis from shops, offices,
factories and catering establishments. This they can do by notifying
the Headquarters of the South West London Mass X-Ray Service, at
the Western Hospital, Seagrave Road, Fulham, S.W.6, telephone
(B5852) a 9