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41
Since the appointed day the Council has continued and extended its use of voluntary
organisations for the provision of services related to the prevention of tuberculosis and
the care and after-care of tuberculous persons. The work of these organisations has enabled
the Council conveniently to fulfil certain of its duties in this field and to meet needs
which otherwise, at the present time, would be difficult to satisfy. Except in the case of
the local tuberculosis care committees, the Council either makes grants-in-aid related to
the expenditure incurred by the voluntary body on the service concerned (as in the case
of the Invalid Children's Aid Association, British Council for Rehabilitation, district
nursing associations and Invalid Kitchens of London) or meets the specific charges levied
by the voluntary body (as in the case of the village settlements). Payments of grants
from official funds are not made by the Council to the local tuberculosis care committees,
but regular contributions are made to these committees from the Sunday Cinema Fund,
which the Council administers through its Public Control Committee. Secretarial
assistance and office facilities are provided by the Council without charge to the
committees.
There are 25 voluntary tuberculosis care committees in the administrative county
serving 26 metropolitan boroughs; one of the committees was established after 5th July,
1948. These committees hold an important place in the Council's care and after-care
arrangements. The scope of their activities is not fully demonstrated by statistical
information, but the general outline contained in paragraphs 156-8 on extra nourishment,
diversional therapy, articles on loan, etc., gives some measure of the services provided
jointly by the Council and the care committees. The work of these committees and the
Council's care organisers (who act as secretaries to the care committees) towards relieving,
with advice and practical help, the personal, domestic and financial anxieties of tuberculous
patients and their dependents, has not relaxed since the introduction of the National
Health Service. This work necessarily involves close co-operation with statutory and
voluntary bodies in order to bring to the patients' aid the help and benefits available
from these sources. The funds of the care committees derive from voluntary contributions,
grants from the Sunday Cinema Fund, sales of work and, in the case of affiliated committees,
the sale of Christmas seals provided by the National Association for the Prevention
of Tuberculosis. A divisional tuberculosis care committee has been set up in each of the
nine health divisions to co-ordinate the activities of the local tuberculosis care committees
in the division.
Comments on the work of the other voluntary associations in connection with the
tuberculosis service are given in the relative paragraphs.
The Invalid Kitchens of London, a voluntary organisation established in 1905, provides
meals for invalids and sick people in London from five centres, the meals being supplied
at dining rooms attached to the centres or delivered by motor van to the homes of
patients who are unable to attend. Meals are supplied only on the production of a medical
certificate to the aged sick, persons discharged from or awaiting admission to hospital,
cripples and invalids, e.g. diabetics in need of special diets. One meal is provided daily
from Monday to Friday, additional meals for the week-end being supplied on Friday,
if required. In London the service provided extends at present only to the whole or part
of the following boroughs: Bethnal Green, Camberwell, Finsbury, Hackney, Hammersmith,
Holborn, Islington, Kensington, Lambeth, St. Pancras, Shoreditch, Southwark
and Stepney, but it is proposed to provide a new service in the borough of Fulham and
to replace the existing kitchen in Bethnal Green by a larger and better one during 1953.
The number of meals supplied during the year ended 30th September, 1952, was in the
neighbourhood of 123,000. With the approval of the Minister of Health the Council
has, since 1950, made an annual grant to this organisation in respect of the services it
provides for sick people in London.