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42
Tuberculous
children
In the Annual Report for 1921 (vol. III., p. 19) reference was made to the
increase in the proportion of non-pulmonary to pulmonary cases in the number of
applications received by the Council for the institutional treatment of tuberculous
children. The figures for 1922 show a still further increase in the percentage of nonpulmonary
cases. The following tables indicate the changes in the proportions :—
Year.
Number of applications.
Pulmonary.
Non-pulmonary.
Numbers treated.
Pulmonary.
Non-pulmonary.
1918 68.6% 31.4% 27.6%
1921 56.7% 43.3% 62.1% 37.9%
1922 48.4% 51.6% 52.5% 47.5%
Type of case.
Numbers under treatment on the dates indicated (and percentages.)
31.12.17 31.12.18 31.12.19 31.12.20 31.12.21 31.12.22
Pulmonary 270 (71.6%) 253 (67.6%)310 (55.0%)347 (49.3%)275 (41.1%) 189 (28.9%)
Non-pulmonary 107 (28.4%) 121 (32.4%) 254 (45.0%) 357 (50.7%) 394 (58.9%) 466 (71.1%)
The scheme of co-operation between the Council and the Invalid Children's
Aid Association, under which, in return for a grant, the Association provides convalescent
treatment for children, and also assists in the provision of surgical appliances
for children who had received treatment under the tuberculosis scheme was
continued during 1922. The sum paid to the Association during 1922 was £1,350,
including a special grant of £350 to enable the Association to provide convalescence
for children of necessitous parents, who by reason of lack of employment, were
unable to pay the usual contribution expected by the Association. During 1922 the
Association received 305 applications for convalescent treatment and 275 children
were sent away with the assistance of the Council's grant. The remaining 30 cases
were found to be ineligible. In addition to these, 31 children were sent away with
no help from the Council's grant in aid as the parents were able to pay the full cost
of treatment. Twenty-four children were supplied with surgical instruments with the
help of the Council's grant in aid. In addition to the foregoing, children were sent to
the five open-air schools for tuberculous children provided by the Council (see
vol. III., p. 74).
As in 1920 and 1921, the Council arranged with the Association for the children
attending the Council's schools for tuberculous children to go away to the seaside
for a fortnight's holiday during the summer of 1922. Two hundred and one children
were sent to a Convalescent Home at St. Leonards-on-Sea, the Council making
a grant of £435 towards the cost. The medical officers of the five schools concerned
are unanimous regarding the beneficial effects of the holiday on the health of the
children. The general opinion is that the holidays were more successful than in
former years owing to the children being under the direct care of teachers.
At the commencement of 1922, the Council had in use 669 beds for children in
hospitals and sanatoria, of which 209 were in voluntary institutions and 460 in
Metropolitan Asylums Board institutions. The number under treatment on 31st
December, 1922, was 655 (178 in voluntary institutions and 477 in Metropolitan
Asylums Board institutions). On 1st January, 1922, 349 boys and 320 girls were
under treatment and 390 boys and 373 girls were sent away during the year. The
total number treated during the year 1922 was, therefore, 1,432, as compared with
1,514 in 1921. In addition, 275 children had the advantage of convalescence through
the Association with the financial assistance of the Council.
Mental
Defioiency
Act, 1913.
On 31st December, 1922, of the 2,711 cases bemg dealt with at the expense
of the Council there were in institutions, 1,380; under guardianship, 13; under
supervision, 1,308; in places of safety awaiting other action, 10. There remained
2,790 out of the total number 5,501 of cases of alleged mental defect, of which notice
had been received since the Act came into operation. These cases include 333 in which