Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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97
per 1,000 contacts was 34.8 Included in the 8 contacts found
to be tuberculous is 1 who had been under observation from
previous years.
The total number of attendances at the Clinic was 5,120. The
Tuberculosis Officer paid 228 home visits, and the District Health
Visitors 3,127 visits for Clinic purposes. In addition, the Health
Visitors made 275 primary visits for the purpose of the Notification
Register.
Patients requiring home nursing or surgical dressings are
attended to by nurses from the Croydon Nursing Service, by
arrangement with that organisation, and 475 such visits were
made during the year.
Contact Examination.
The value of an isolated examination is to detect a carrier,
possibly some elderly member of the household who is supposed
to have chronic bronchitis. This is prevention.
The second object of contact examination is the cure of the
individual by detecting the disease in its early stages. For this
purpose an isolated examination is not sufficient, and frequent
re-examinations are necessary, as the onset of tuberculosis is
often insidious.
It is advisable to get a complete examination of all contacts
and not only those who have developed symptoms.
If the individual continues to live in contact with the patient,
repeated examinations with radiography seem to be necessary if
the supervision is to have any value at all.
761 appointments for examination were offered to new contacts
during 1934, but only 323 new contacts attended and were
examined.
No. of persons on Clinic Register, January 1st, 1934 | 963 |
„ Notified Cases examined for the first time | 77 |
„ Cases sent for an opinion | 292 |
„ First attendances, including 46 transfers in | 865 |
„ Consultations of T.O. with private practitioners | 32 |
„ Visits paid by T.O. to homes of patients | 228 |
„ Visits paid by T.O. to Cheam Sanatorium | 6 |
„ Visits paid by T.O. to Mayday Hospital | 57 |
„ Patients examined by T.O. at Mayday Hospital | 168 |
„ Visits paid to homes of patients by Health Visitors and Nurses | 3,877 |
„ Attendances of patients at the Clinic- | |
Men | 1,647 |
Women | 2,240 |
Children | 1,233 |
Total | 5,120 |