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for attendance on patients suffering from any infectious
disease in their district, who, owing to want of accommodation
at the hospital or danger of infection, cannot be removed
to the hospital, or in cases where removal to hospital
is believed to endanger the patient's health."
3. Where the earning members of the family are excluded
owing to being engaged in occupations at which the disease
may be spread.
a) Where full wages are paid by employers; no assistance
would be provided in this case.
b) Where no wages are paid. As the exclusion is
a preventive measure, the Local Sanitary Authority,
as the body responsible for the maintenance of
healthy conditions, should be empowered to compensate
in these cases.
The Local Authority applied to the Ministry of Health for
power to assist under Sec. 133 of the Public Health Act, 1875.
viz., " Any Local Authority may, with the sanction of the Local
Government Board, themselves provide or contract with any
person to provide a temporary supply of medicine and medical
assistance for the poorer inhabitants of the district."
Under this is was hoped that the Local Authority could
assume responsibility for payment of Doctor's fees in cases
where the family income was below the scale. Fending the
decision of the Guardians on their policy with regard to this
question of home treatment of infectious cases, the Ministry
of Health have not, as yet, granted the necessary sanction
In September, 1928, was considered the question of the
provision of a nursing service for these home treated cases
providing either ordinary nursing or some special form of
treatment such as the Milne. The objections to this procedure
however, were:—
a) That in most cases no nursing as such was required
and that the duties of any person so appointed would
consist chiefly in allaying the anxiety of the mother>
who would themselves carry out the actual nursing
I his applied, of course, owing to the fortunate fart
that the bulk of the cases are of a mild type, and any
patients suffering from severe complications are admitted
to hospital.
(b) That any staff appointed would necessarily be temporary
with attending disadvantages.
No arrangements therefore, were made for home
nursing, the same practice as last year being carried
out. viz., supervision by the Health Visitors.