View report page

26
Adults Children
1945 1944 1938 1945 1944 1938
Council's special hospitals 1,233 (160) 1,419 (242) 1,299 (1) 437 416 668
and sanatoria
Council's general hospitals 596 (23) 490 (30) 1,010 (6) 13 12 13
Voluntary institutions 1,316 (145) 1,399 (157) 1,134 (16) 127 55 60
Total *3,145 (328) 3,308 (429) 3,443 (23) 577 483 731
*Including 176 Service patients (165 in the Council's special hospitals and 11 in voluntary institutions).
The decrease in the number of beds occupied, both in the Council's special
hospitals and sanatoria and in voluntary institutions, is due to staffing difficulties
prevalent throughout the country.
Boardingout
of
child
contacts
The number of children boarded out under the tuberculosis contact scheme has
shown a slight increase compared with 1944, when the average number boarded out
was 152. During 1945, the average number was 155. The highest number at any
one time during 1944 was 179, the corresponding figure for 1945 being 170. It was
noticeable, however, that during the last quarter of 1945 the average was 160, whereas
the average number for the same period during 1944 was 146.
The Invalid Children's Aid Association, who arrange the boarding-out for the
Council, reported that considerable difficulties were being experienced in securing
suitable foster homes for children under the age of five. As a consequence some of
these children were placed in the Council's nurseries, or if over five years of age in the
Council's residential schools and homes.
Open-air
schools
At the beginning of the year there were six residential open-air schools (type T)
in operation outside the London area. By October, 1945, four had been closed and
the children were transferred to the two remaining schools (Burrow Hill Colony,
Frimley, and Balls Park open-air school, Hertford), and to the Kathleen Schlesinger
Home near Henley, which was re-opened. During the year the distinction between
open-air schools, types T and O, was abolished and it was decided that children,
whether delicate (type O) or those with a tuberculous background (type T), should be
admitted to these schools and also to the George Rainey Residential open-air school,
St. Leonards-on-Sea; Wanstead House residential open-air school, Cliftonville; and
the Horsleys Green Camp, Stokenchurch, Bucks. The number of children with a
tuberculous background in attendance at these schools at the end of 1945 was 183.
No child with "open" or infectious tuberculosis is admitted to these open-air schools.
Surgical
after-care
During the year, financial responsibility was accepted for the supply, renewal
and repair of surgical appliances and for X-ray examination of orthopaedic patients
attending after-care departments of hospitals (whether maintained by the Council
or otherwise) at which residential treatment had been provided under the tuberculosis
scheme. Free treatment and appliances were also provided at the out-patient
departments of the Council's general hospitals for those patients attending for
after-care following residential treatment under the scheme at Grove Park Hospital
or at voluntary hospitals not having after-care clinics.
Rehabilitation
Many of the Council's ex-patients have been employed at the "Spero" Workshops
in Tower Bridge Road, S.E., which were established by the "Central Fund for
the Employment of Tuberculous Persons." The Council buys a considerable amount
of the output of the workshops, and has for some years provided financial aid by
annual grants to the management committee. A medical officer of the Council acts
as honorary medical officer at the workshops.
Women ex-patients in whom the disease was in a comparatively early stage, and
in whom, while under treatment, it became quiescent, have been accepted for employment
as nurses or domestics in the Council's sanatoria. Arrangements also exist
with many voluntary institutions for the employment of ex-patients in various
capacities.