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34
hitherto. The extensions will not include any material alterations
in the ward-blocks, which are sufficiently spacious to accommodate
without difficulty all the additional beds proposed. The chief
structural alterations will consist in the extension of the administrative
block to house the additional staff, and the provision of a residence
for the medical superintendent and a cottage for the engineer.
(b) Borough (Fever) Hospital, Waddon. One of the two
cubicle blocks at the Borough Hospital has been utilised for a
number of years for the treatment of tuberculous patients of "hospital
" type. The block contains 12 beds (9 for women, 3 for men),
and 5 shelters are in addition provided for men. The patients
admitted are chiefly of the type likely to spread infection in their
homes. 17 patients were under treatment for tuberculosis at the
Borough Hospital at the beginning of the year; 66 were admitted,
52 were discharged, and 16 died during the year.
(c) Larchfield Sanatorium. The whole of the 14 beds for
women at Larchfield Sanatorium, Caterham, were retained by the
Corporation throughout the year.
(d) Other Sanatoria. On an average 14 beds (4 for males, 10
for females) at the Grosvenor Sanatorium, Ash-ford, Kent, were
occupied by Croydon patients during the year.
The names of a number of other sanatoria receiving Croydon
patients are given in a previous paragraph.
6—AFTER CAKE WORK.
After-care work is the least fully developed side of the antituberculosis
work in the borough—and in this Croydon is not in
any way exceptional, for the development of measures of after-care
is a difficult problem. There can, however, be no doubt that in the
absence of definite machinery for supervising and assisting the
patient and his family to maintain a reasonable livelihood under
reasonably healthy conditions, much of the preliminary work done
in the attempt to cure his disease and to advise him on his home circumstances
is wasted. The question of providing, either through
a Care Committee or in some other form, an organisation which
will take an interest in and give a helping hand to the patient strug
gling to support his family and at the same time to maintain his
health, is a matter for serious consideration.