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233 [1912
NATIONAL INSURANCE ACT, 1911.
Sanatorium Benefit.
It is hardly necessary to explain the provisions of this part of the Act,
which during the last eighteen months have been so widely discussed in the
public press.
It may, however, be of interest to give a sketch of the work which the
administration of sanatorium benefit threw on the Public Health Department
of the Borough. It commenced in the early part of September, and the
work of arranging for the administration of the Act locally devolved practically
in its entirety on the Medical Officer of Health.
During the month of September a letter was received from the then
Acting Clerk to the London Insurance Committee inquiring if the Medical
Officer of Health would undertake the duty of arranging for the domiciliary,
dispensary, and hospital treatment of insured tuberculous persons living in
Islington, who were recommended by the Committee's expert medical adviser
for sanatorium benefit or home treatment, to which he replied in the
affirmative.
Accordingly, on 21st September, 1912, the first case was forwarded to
him to make the necessary arrangements. This one was followed in quick
succession by others, numbering in all 62, of which, however, 11 were recommended
for sanatorium treatment, the documents received being merely
notices of removal to an institution so that steps might be taken for the
disinfection of the premises in which the patient resided, as the Insurance
Committee for the County of London dealt with these cases themselves.
As showing the amount of work entailed on the Public Health Department,
it may be well to give an outline on the procedure adopted in the case
of a patient recommended for domiciliary treatment, and as the first case dealt
with is typical of those which followed, it may be quoted as an example.
On the 21st September the following letter was received from the Clerk
to the Insurance Committee for the County of London —