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28
Residential Treatment.
235 males, 216 females and 30 children were admitted to
Residential Institutions during 1951.
At the end of the year there were 27 beds occupied in the
Cheam Sanatorium, North Cheam, compared with 52 at the end
of 1950 and the normal 94 beds pre-war.
The Regional Hospital Board has taken over a further
number of beds in the Sanatorium for the use of patients from
other areas.
The Chest Clinic and Home Visiting.
1,549 new cases were examined during the year. 195 were
found to be definitely tuberculous.
The total number of attendances for examination at the Chest
Clinic was 12,905. There were also 6,802 attendances by patients
for collapse therapy.
The Clinic doctors paid 267 home visits and the Tuberculosis
Visitors 3,851 visits for Clinic purposes. In addition, the
Tuberculosis Visitors made 387 primary visits for the purposes
of the Notification Register.
Patients requiring home nursing or surgical dressings are
attended to by the nurses from the Croydon Nursing Service, by
arrangement with that organisation. 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 562 contacts
were examined. Of these, 9 were considered to be tuberculous.
This is equal to a tuberculosis rate per 1,000 contacts of 16 compared
with 1.25 per 1,000 of the general population. In addition
there were 8 found to be tuberculous who had been under observation
from previous years.
The Clinic Register of Cases.
The number of cases of Tuberculosis under the supervision
of the Clinic at the end of the year was 1,691. This is equivalent
to 6.7 persons per 1,000 of the population.