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57
In outlining his conceptions of the duties of a Tuberculosis
Officer, Dr. Williamson laid great stress on the necessity of the
Tuberculosis Officer making himself conversant with all the social,
economic and industrial factors which play such an important part
in the lives of their patients, and, as I pointed out at the conference,
to all intents and purposes Dr. Williamson was demanding that
each Tuberculosis Officer should be in fact a Medical Officer of
Health, which, of course, is the same thing as saying that a Medical
Officer of Health should be the Tuberculosis Officer.
It is obvious that for any Medical Officer to establish contact
with all the various activities and social influences which affect
the health of the people under his care, he must be in a position to
have personal knowledge of the other work which is being undertaken
in public health, such as housing, inspection of workshops,
maternity and child welfare, etc., and it is essentially the Medical
Officer of Health who unites in one office a direct personal interest
in all these various activities.
It may reasonably be assumed that this work will double itself
in the next three years, so that we shall then have enough work
for two-thirds of the time of a whole-time Medical Officer.
My experience is that this work is best undertaken by a parttime
Medical Officer.
The administrative arrangements for dealing with tuberculosis in
the area include :—
(a) A dispensary used on two half-days per week,
(b) Garden shelters for suitable cases,
(c) Sanatorium accommodation for surgical tuberculosis,
(d) Sanatorium accommodation for suitable early pulmonary
cases, and in some instances the more advanced,
(e) Accommodation for a number of bedridden and advanced
cases at St. Joseph's Hospice, Hackney, and Liverpool
Road Hospital, Islington.
The number of notified cases on the register on December 31st,
1920, was 737, compared with 990 for the corresponding period of
the preceding year.