London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

Stoke Newington 1910

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Stoke Newington, The Metropolitan Borough]

This page requires JavaScript

52
established in this country in Edinburgh in 1887: hundreds of
Dispensaries are now in existence in France, Germany, and America;
and whereas two years ago London had not one, it now possesses four,
and movements have been recently started for the establishment of
three others. The essential feature of the system is the provision of
the services of a doctor, who not only sees the patients when they
come to his Dispensary, but also visits them in their homes, advises
as to hygienic and precautionary measures, and examines other
members of the house for early signs of Consumption. He is assisted
in this home visiting by a trained nurse, whose duty it is to make
periodical visits with the object of ensuring that the patient's who are
allowed to remain at home under treatment are following out the
instructions they have received. But the Dispensary is not an
isolated unit. It provides the means for classifying the cases and for
securing for each the most appropriate treatment, whether it be in
a Sanatorium, a Hospital, an improvised Shelter, a Home for
Advanced Cases, or the patient's dwelling. The co-operation of the
sanitary authority, the Poor-Law Authority, the local hospitals,
Churches and Chapels, and various charitable agencies, is obtained;
and in order that there may be no interference with the work of
other medical men, no patient previously under treatment is treated
without the sanction of those by whom he has been attended. Moreover,
all treatment is free; but persons who are found able to pay for
treatment are referred to private practitioners. The cases requiring
medical relief are referred to the Charity Organisation Society or
other suitable agency. Such a Dispensary is supported by voluntary
contributions and managed by a voluntary Committee.
The experience both at Edinburgh and Paddington is that the
private practitioners frequently send their poor cases to the Dispensary,
and that the Out-Patient Department of General Hospitals
readily avail themselves of a system which possesses the advantage of
combining treatment with the highly necessary home supervision.
The Paddington Dispensary was opened in January, 1909, and
already over 1,500 cases, drawn exclusively from that district, are
on its register Of these cases, about one-third mere only discovered