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The form is then sent to the Insurance Committee and subsequently
the patient is examined by the Committee's expert medical adviser who recommends
the kind of treatment that should be given.
The attention of your Committee was directed to the unsatisfactory manner
in which certain cases of insured persons in St. Pancras suffering from
tuberculosis have been dealt with by the London Insurance Committee. Your
Committee felt that the delays and failures result from the fact that central
control is insisted upon, and no local discretionary powers allowed, and
were of opinion that the District Committees should have granted to them
adequate authority to arrange for the treatment of all cases residing in their
districts in order to avoid the delay of sending the applications to the Central
Committee and waiting for decisions to be arrived at. It is obvious that better
results will be obtained if the District Committees are allowed to deal at first
hand with local cases, as by enquiries and visitation, if necessary, thev will be
aware of the actual circumstances and needs thereof. The clear intention of
the Act was to dissociate insured persons from the Poor Law, but owing to the
delay in obtaining institutional treatment several St. Pancras cases have availed
themselves of the Infirmary.
It was the opinion of your Committee that the applications for sanatorium
benefit should be made to the District Insurance Committee and the patients
•examined by the Tuberculosis Officer at the Dispensary, and then, if necessary,
those patients recommended for treatment in a sanatorium could be seen by
the medical referee of the Central Committee.
"With a view to obtaining this result the Council, on the 19th March, 1913,
passed the following resolution:—
" That representations be made to the Insurance Commissioners and the
London Insurance Committee urging that powers be given to the
District Committees to arrange for the treatment of all cases of insured
persons suffering from tuberculosis who are resident in their districts."
On the 1st April, 1913, a reply was received from the London Insurance
Committee stating that they do not at present see their way to agree that powers
should be delegated to the District Insurance Committees as proposed.
Action taken by the Borough Council—St. Pancran Dispensary.—An application
was made to your Committee on behalf of the St. Pancras Dispensary asking
the Borough Council to apply to the Local Government Board for their approval
of the tuberculosis department of the dispensary as an institution to serve the
needs of the Borough under the National Insurance Act, 1911, and to make
a grant in aid thereof. A deputation attended before your Committee on the
19th June, 1912, for the purpose of supporting the application and explained
the position of the institution and the scheme at present working and being
further developed.
The St. Pancras Dispensary was established in 1810 as the "St. Pancras anNorthern Dispensary," and has been at work in the Borough ever since that
date—102 years since. It has some half-dozen departments, and amongst them
a general medical department, in which during the past four years all the
contacts, suspects, and persons suspected of tuberculosis sent by the Borough
Council have been examined, diagnosed, and reported upon, with the approval of