View report page

92
Hostels for
homeless
infective
ambulant
tuberculous
men
One effect of the fragmentation of the Council's pre-1948 tuberculosis service was to
leave uncertain the position as to responsibility for the care of ambulant chronic infective
tuberculous persons not requiring further treatment but having no homes. When the
Council was a hospital authority it made arrangements for care of these persons in suitable
residential establishments in various parts of the country. The Minister of Health having
ruled that responsibility for the care of these persons rested with the local health
authority, the Council established in October, 1951, a hostel at 20/22 Highbury Quadrant,
Islington, N.5, providing 35 beds, for tuberculous men, the criteria for admission
to the hostel being homelessness, infectivity, and ability to keep up and about. The men
are under the close supervision of the local chest physician and continuous medical care
is provided by local general practitioners. Premises in Fulham, South-West London are
being adapted to provide a second residential hostel. The need for hostel accommodation
in London is estimated to be approximately 80 beds per 30,000 tuberculous adults (male
and female), mostly for unemployed elderly men with advanced disease and therefore
in practice only intermittently ambulant. Experience will in due course show whether
this kind of provision for men in this category is an adequate substitute for special wards
in a chronic hospital. There does not appear to be any demand for hostel accommodation
for tuberculous women. No special nursing facilities are provided, but use is made, when
needed, of the local home nursing service. These hostels are a good social service for
indigent disabled tuberculous men who are thereby provided with good meals and good
lodgings at a charge each is able to bear.
At the beginning of 1952, 17 men were in residence at the Islington hostel, and
37 more severely disabled men were accommodated by arrangement in a private establishment,
St. Catherine's Hostel, Sopwell House, St. Albans. The arrangement for the
use of the accommodation at St. Catherine's Hostel was terminated on 6th September,
1952, some of the residents being transferred to the hostel at Islington and the remainder
to accommodation made available temporarily at the British Legion Village, Preston
Hall, near Maidstone, Kent, pending the establishment of the second hostel.
During the year 61 recommendations for admission to a hostel for homeless infective
tuberculous men were approved and at the end of the year 32 men were in residence at
the Council's hostel and 12 at the British Legion Village.
Rehabilitation
Selected patients recommended by chest physicians are sent by the Council to
village settlements where they undergo courses of instruction in work suitable to their
capacity and temperament. The Council has in the main met little difficulty in agreeing
financial terms with the settlement managements and, with the regional hospital boards,
the stage at which a patient is deemed to come within the Council's after-care. Maintenance
charges are the Council's responsibility when the patient is judged fit for work
at the settlement for five hours a day. The Council was financially responsible for 31
patients at the end of 1948. At the end of 1952 the Council was responsible for 23 exservice
men and two women at the British Legion Village, Preston Hall, near Maidstone;
16 men and one woman at Papworth Village Settlement, nr. Cambridge; 18 men at the
Enham Alamein Village Centre, Andover, Hants; and two men at East Lanes. Tuberculosis
Colony, Barrowmore Hall, nr. Chester, a total of 62 patients.
The Council arranges for the facilities for correspondence courses provided by the
British Council for Rehabilitation to be available for tuberculous patients undergoing
prolonged medical treatment at home who wish to train for their future occupation
but are not fit to attend technical colleges; 25 patients were accepted for training in
this way in the six months ended 30th September, 1952.
The problem of the disabled patient's resettlement in industry, primarily the concern
of the Ministry of Labour and National Service, is marked by the difficulty of finding
suitable employment and may, particularly in the case of the infectious patient, call for
delicate negotiations with prospective employers. Chest physicians give valuable
assistance in this connection, with the Council's care organisers and the voluntary care
committees. In pursuance of the Ministry of Health Circular 7/52 (8-4-52), dealing with