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50
CHEST CLINICS
There are three Chest Clinics in Westminster situated at the following addresses:—
Paddington Chest Clinic, 14-18 Newton Road, W.2. (BAY 8821).
St. Marylebone Chest Clinic, Town Hall, Marylebone Road, W.l. (WEL 7766).
Westminster Hospital Chest Clinic, 1 Ebury Bridge Road, S.W.I. (SLO 3883).
I am indebted to the Consultant Physician at each of these Clinics for the following reports of their
activities during 1965:—
Paddington Chest Clinic—Dr. P. A. Zorab, Consultant Physician
Major improvements during 1965 included the installation of a new X-ray plant, also the provision
of a 100 mm. Odelca camera on the ground floor. In connection with the installation of the latter,
the waiting facilities for those people attending the clinic for X-ray only have been greatly improved.
The cost of the new equipment was in the region of £15,000, the money being provided by the North
West Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board.
The work of the clinic continues at a high level as is to be expected in an area with a large number of
immigrants from many different countries, many of whose stay will be of short duration. It is,
perhaps, of interest, that one case of tuberculosis in an immigrant when followed up by our Health
Visitor, led to the examination of 39 contacts of whom 19 were found to require treatment for active
disease.
In addition to work aimed at eradicating tuberculosis such as the active B.C.G. campaign which we
have and the follow up of Tuberculin positive school children, the clinic continues to handle large
numbers of cases of bronchitis, emphysema, asthma, lung cancer and acute inflammatory diseases of the
lung. Facilities for investigating all these cases have been considerably improved since our link with
Brompton Hospital on 1st January, 1966 whereby I was given beds of my own at Brompton Hospital
as a Consultant Physician.
As previously, a considerable amount of research is done at this clinic and we now have a Registrar
whose work is only half-time on clinical duties, the other half being recognized and paid for by the
North West Board in order to carry out research.
St. Marylebone Chest Clinic—Dr. G. Shneerson, Consultant Physician
The changes in local authority boundary administration have not affected the work at this clinic
which has continued to enjoy the same helpful co-operation from the new authority as it had previously
received from the old.
So far as the tuberculosis statistics are concerned the notification figures for 1965 were less than for
1964.
Although there may be somewhat less tuberculosis in the country at large, this tendency is not
reflected to the same extent in areas such as Central London where there is a shifting population which
includes relatively more susceptible ethnic groups.
Contrary to the general trend elsewhere the number of notified deaths from carcinoma of the lung
in 1965 has also diminished; too much significance however should not in my opinion be attached to
this isolated finding.
Westminster Hospital Chest Clinic—Dr. P. A. Emerson, Consultant Physician
During the year ended 31st December, 1965, 59 new cases of tuberculosis were notified at this clinic
(males—46; females—11; children—2).
The new cases of tuberculosis are referred to us in various ways; by the general practitioners (4 male
cases, 1 female case), mass X-ray (7 male cases, 2 female cases), other hospitals and other mass X-ray
units outside the area (30 male cases, 12 female cases). Routine examination of 36 home or work contacts
of the tuberculous patients were carried out and three cases of tuberculosis found in one family.
The majority of the newly notified cases among males came from the three common lodging houses.
Although the mass X-ray unit of the South West London Mass X-ray Service visits these lodging
houses regularly in co-operation with the Chest Clinic staff, the usual methods of tuberculosis case
finding and control are very difficult to apply to the shifting population of the common lodging houses,
in spite of the ready co-operation of the supervisors.
In the City of Westminster we have a very large immigrant population working in the catering
trade. This year we again repeated the Survey that we had done two years previously in co-operation
with the South West Mass X-ray Unit, visiting the restaurants, cafes, etc., of Soho. This year it is
satisfactory to be able to report that no new cases of active tuberculosis were found.
The work of the clinic is not only concerned with tuberculosis in the City of Westminster, but also
with all the non-tuberculous chest diseases.
Statistics relating to work carried out at these three Chest Clinics are set out in Table 49, page 74.