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27
The Chest Clinic and Home Visiting
2,154 new cases were examined during the year. 168 were
found to be definitely tuberculous.
The total number of attendances for examination at the Chest
Clinic was 17,657.
The Clinic doctors paid 214 home visits and the Tuberculosis
Visitors 3,199 visits for Clinic purposes. In addition the
Tuberculosis visitors made 321 primary visits for the purposes
of the Notification Register. There were also 1,640 unsuccessful
visits made.
Patients requiring home nursing or surgical dressings are
attended to by the nurses from the Croydon Nursing Association,
by arrangement with that organisation. Their assistance is a
valuable adjunct in the care of domiciliary cases.
Contact Examination
The examination and subsequent supervision of persons coming
into contact with patients suffering from Tuberculosis plays an
important part in the prevention of the spread of infection.
During 1961, 742 persons were examined for the first time as
contacts of notified cases of Tuberculosis, giving a contactcase
ratio of 4 for each notified case during the year.
Of these contacts, 17 were found to be tuberculous. This is
equal to a Tuberculosis rate per 1,000 contacts of 23 compared
with 1.13 per 1,000 of the general population. In addition,
there were 7 found to be tuberculous who had been under observation
from previous years.