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130
The compulsory notification of the disease has disclosed two
instances in which the patients had not been informed by the
doctor notifying the disease that they were suffering from it.
It is unfair to place the onus of conveying this information upon
the sanitary official; and the advice which he can offer is not
likely to be heeded if the patient doubts whether he is suffering
from the disease. In 1 case the request was made that I should
not visit, because it was undesirable to acquaint the patient of
his condition. Where this is the wish of a medical practitioner
the request is, of course, complied with.
In practically all the cases the diagnosis was confirmed by
a bacteriological examination of the sputa. In 4 instances the
patients were dead within two or three days of notification; and
in 4 instances the patient had been removed to the Infirmary or
to Hospital by the time a notification certificate reached us. In
3 cases the patient had left the address from which they were
notified; and in 2 cases false addresses were given.
Sixty-nine of the notified cases were recorded as insured
under the Insurance Act.
Judging from the deaths from Consumption, which numbered
56, there must have been, at least, 300 sufferers from the disease
in the Borough during the year, and of those 118 were notified.
In the absence of sufficient provision to isolate or even to
adequately supervise the advanced cases which are notified to
me, the infection spreads in some of the homes of Stoke Newington,
and this will remain so until more comprehensive measures
are adopted.
The Public Health Committee has long favoured the provision
of a Tuberculosis Dispensary, and after considering the alternative
scheme of obtaining premises and making suitable provisions
within the Borough, they came to the conclusion that the most
economical and efficient scheme for Stoke Newington was one by
which the advantages of the Metropolitan Hospital, Kingsland
Road, may be utilised. The Borough Council of Hackney had
already approached the Metropolitan Hospital Directors, and