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113
The Tuberculosis Clinic and Home Visiting.
The subjoined table gives a summary of the work done in
connection with the Clinic.
503 new cases were examined during the year; this is equal
to 324 for each 100 deaths from the disease. 219, or 141 for each
100 deaths, were found to be definitely Tuberculous.
The total number of attendances at the Clinic was 4,780. The
Tuberculosis Officer paid 202 home visits, and the District Health
Visitors 2,966 visits for Clinic purposes. In addition, the Health
Visitors made 338 primary visits for the purpose of the Notification
Register.
The Tuberculosis Officer paid 58 visits to Mayday Hospital,
in a consultative capacity, and there examined 205 patients.
Patients requiring home nursing or surgical dressings are
attended to by nurses from the Croydon Nursing Service, by
arrangement with that organisation, and 922 such visits were made
during the year. Their assistance is a valuable adjunct in the care
of domiciliary cases.
Contact Examination.
The contacts of definite cases are urged to attend the Clinic
for examination (and subsequent supervision). This is an
important preventive measure. During the year 296 contacts were
examined, equal to 191 for each 100 deaths, compared with 250 in
1936, or 174 per 100 deaths. Of these, 5 were considered to be
Tuberculous This is equal to a Tuberculosis rate per 1,000 contacts
of 16.8, compared with 1.39 per 1,000 of the general population.
Included in the 5 contacts found to be Tuberculous are 3
who had been under observation from previous years.
587 appointments for examination were offered to new contacts
during 1937, but only 296 new contacts attended and were examined.
The importance of contact examination as a true preventive
measure is not appreciated by the public. The number of contacts
examined is low, due to the impossibility of finding time with the
medical staff available. In this matter the family practitioner could
be of much assistance. The National Health Insurance medical
service provides a means through which contact examinations could
be done by private medical practitioners.