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PREVENTION OF ILLNESS, CARE AND AFTER CARE
Under Section 28 of the National Health Service Act, 1946, a local health
authority may make arrangements for the purpose of the prevention of illness, for
the care of persons suffering from illness and the after-care of such persons.
Proposals adopted by the Council cover a wide variety of services. Mental health
services provided under the Mental Health Act, 1959, are subject to provisions of
this Section and are dealt with in a later section of this Report.
Tuberculosis
The Council's arrangements for this service are based on the chest clinics where
the chest physician is responsible for carrying out the provisions of the Council's
scheme and for the general supervision of the tuberculosis health visitors employed
by the Council.
The residents of the former Boroughs of Edmonton and Enfield are cared for by
the Edmonton Chest Clinic, situated at the North Middlesex Hospital, and those
of the former Borough of Southgate are cared for by the Finchley Chest Clinic in
the London Borough of Barnet.
There were 121 primary notifications of cases of tuberculosis, of which 22 were
non-pulmonary.
The number of deaths from tuberculosis during the year was seven, all of
which were due to pulmonary tuberculosis.
The number of persons examined for the first time at the chest clinics was
2,171 and of this number, 121 were found to be suffering from tuberculosis.
The number of contacts of these cases examined was 458 and 8 of these were
found to be suffering from tuberculosis.
At the end of the year, there were 1,777 patients on the tuberculosis registers.
Consultant Chest Physicians annually draw attention to the fact that tuberculosis
is still a dangerous and unpredictable disease, and that efforts to prevent it are still
capable of some improvement.
Home Visiting
The four tuberculosis health visitors stationed at the Edmonton Chest Clinic
are employed by this Council, whilst the three at the Finchley Chest Clinic are
employed by the London Borough of Barnet.
Apart from the duty of home visiting, these officers perform clinical duties at
the chest clinics. Their work is primarily concerned with tuberculosis but also
embraces all kinds of chest diseases. During the year they made 2,377 home
visits to tuberculous households.
The visits are undertaken for the purpose of contact tracing, supervision of
persons under treatment, encouraging defaulters to attend clinic sessions, giving
advice on prevention of spread of infection and on facilities available for care
and after care and for reporting on the home conditions of patients.
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