View report page

47
An annual grant, based on actual expenditure approved by the Council for the
year, was formerly made by the Council to the Metropolitan Borough Councils, subject
to the dispensary service being carried out to the satisfaction of the Council. The grant,
as nearly as possible, represented 25 per cent, of the actual net approved expenditure
after deduction of the sum paid by the exchequer to the Metropolitan Borough Councils
in compensation for loss of income arising from the withdrawal of " sanatorium
benefit " for persons insured under the National Health Insurance Acts. The question
of these grants was reviewed during 1933, and the Council, as from 1st April, 1933,
substituted, for annual percentage grants based on actual expenditure, a system of
fixed block grants in the form of annual payments of fixed amounts operating for
periods of three years, based on examination of audited statements of actual expenditure
during the triennium immediately preceding the commencement of each block
grant period, together with a further statement of the amount of the probable
expenditure by the Metropolitan Borough Councils during the ensuing grant period,
and reasons for variations from previous expenditure. This arrangement does not
include the City of London, which maintains its own dispensary at St. Bartholomew's
hospital.
There are now 34 dispensaries in all, including 3 branch dispensaries. Of these,
26 are ad hoc municipal dispensaries, and 8 (including 1 branch dispensary) are at
voluntary hospitals or under voluntary management. This excludes the City of
London dispensary at St. Bartholomew's hospital. In some cases a borough has
two dispensaries, while in other cases a hospital dispensary serves more than one
borough.
Detailed information has been furnished by the Metropolitan Borough Councils'
tuberculosis dispensary service as to the work of the tuberculosis dispensaries,
including particulars as to the numbers of new cases and "contacts" examined,
and the number of home visits, etc. The information is summarised in the table
on pages 48 and 49.