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38
Tuberculosis
Caie
Committees.
Handicraft
classes for
dispensary
patients.
Employment
In addition to the foregoing arrangements for residential treatment of tuberculous
children the Council has established seven open-air day schools with accommodation
for 515 children suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis or from tuberculous
glands with no open wounds who do not appear to require treatment in
residential institutions. Of these seven schools, one (Grove Hill-road School,
Camberwell) was closed in August, 1929. This school only accommodated twentyfive
children, and it was found possible to accommodate all the children in other
open-air schools for tuberculous children. The work of these schools is dealt with in
the section of this report dealing with the school medical service.
The valuable work of the tuberculosis care committees in arranging assistance
for tuberculous patients and their families cannot be summarised statistically, but
the effectiveness of the tuberculosis scheme is in no small measure indebted to their
co-operation. The scope of activity of the committees has widened considerably
since the inception of the scheme and the quality of the work which involves close
co-operation with the various social agencies, and public officials in the respective
boroughs is excellent.
Among the activities of the Tuberculosis Care Committees in several boroughs
is included the organisation of handicraft classes for dispensary patients, mainly
those who are unfit for ordinary employment. At the beginning of the year such
classes were in operation in nine boroughs and classes were established in two
additional boroughs during the year, making a total of eleven classes.
Assistance to patients in obtaining employment following residential treatment
is a valuable feature of the activities of the Tuberculosis Care Committees.
In view of the importance of this question the Metropolitan Asylums Board last
year adopted a scheme which provides for the training for nursing and domestic
service of selected patients sent by the Council to one of the Board's institutions.
Nine posts for nurses and nine for domestic servants are to be reserved for trainees
who complete satisfactorily the course of training.
During the past year eleven London patients have been accepted for training at
Godalming under the Scheme, eight as nurses and three as domestics. Of the eight
nurse trainees one was discharged as unsuitable for employment as a nurse, one left
at her own wish, one was sent away for further treatment, while the remaining
five remain on the staff and are fit for work, including two who are now accepted
for the permanent staff. None of the three domestic trainees remains; one having
been discharged as unsuitable for employment, another for a breach of discipline,
and the third having left at her own request.
The medical superintendent states that throughout practically the whole time
the scheme has been in operation the only restriction to the expansion of the number
of ex-patients employed has been the smallness of the supply of medically suitable
cases and not a deficiency of vacancies. It would be possible to take six more expatients
on the nursing and nine on the domestic side.
In the light of a year's experience of the scheme it would appear that the
number of medically suitable cases under the present scheme is never likely to be
very large. It is possible that patients would be more likely to continue in employment
in institutions nearer London. The transfer of a number of institutions in
semi-urban surroundings under the Local Government Act, 1929, may make it
possible to absorb a larger number of suitable patients under conditions more acceptable
to them than at Godalming.
During the year, Burrow Hill Colony which belongs to the National Association
for the Prevention of Tuberculosis was reorganised into an institution for the treatment
and training in gardening and clerical work of youths between 14 and 19 years
of age. The scheme requires that youths suffering from tuberculosis, who will need
to remain for at least a year, should be sent to the colony. The courses of instruction
have received the approval of the Board of Agriculture and the Board of Educaton