View report page

131
obtained an expression of their willingness to co-operate with that
Council in the establishment of a Tuberculosis Dispensary, and a
scheme embracing both Hackney and Stoke Newington has now
been adopted.
The aim of a Dispensary System is to secure that not a single
case of Tuberculosis shall occur unobserved or remain uncared
for in the community.
I share the view with many others that no measure of attack
upon Tuberculosis has much chance of success unless it begins
and ends with the home; unless the patient is followed there, and
both he and his surroundings are appropriately dealt with.
Examination of contacts, for instance, often discovers patients in
an earlier stage of disease than the notified patient, and the
probability of effecting a cure is much greater in the case of the
discovered patient than in the case of the notified patient. It
follows, then, that the success of any scheme will depend very
largely upon a prompt and accurate diagnosis of those infected.
The subjoined Report of the Public Health Committee was
recently adopted by the Borough Council:—
(D)—TUBERCULOSIS DISPENSARY.
The question of providing a Dispensary to promote the
early diagnosis, treatment and care of persons residing in the
Borough and suffering from Tuberculosis had been considered by
the Public Health Committee. When it came to the knowledge
of the Committee that the London County Council was about to
formulate a scheme of Dispensary Provision for the whole of the
Metropolis, the Committee adjourned the further consideration of
this matter until the County Council scheme was issued; but,
owing mainly to the fact that several Metropolitan Boroughs had
already made the provision, the County Council abandoned the
proposal to formulate a scheme, and intimated to the Borough
Councils that they should make their own provision, subject to
compliance with certain requirements which were specified. In
the circumstances, the Medical Officer of Health again reported to