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Arrangements were made at the end of November to send to these country hospitals
a number of chronic bronchitis cases, so as to ensure that in the winter months they
were outside the built-up area of Greater London with its liability to fog. Those
selected were liable quickly to become casualties under fog or smog conditions and
so to require immediate admission to hospital at a time of the year when considerable
pressure on hospital bed accommodation is the rule. Such cases exposed to fog can in
a couple of hours change from ambulant though wheezy individuals into emergencies
requiring oxygen tents as a life saving measure. Their evacuation to country hospitals
is consequently of preventive as well as therapeutic value. About 20 were recommended
for such admission - more should have gone, but there is a limited amount of accommodation
for them. It is often difficult to persuade a patient to agree to move in
time (i.e, before the fog season), and two deaths occurred in early December in
patients where there had been delay in the recommended transfer to a hospital outside
London.

MASS X-RAY
During the year the Mass X-Ray Unit 5B under the direction of Dr. J.R. Mikhail,
Medical Director of the Unit visited the Borough.
Public sessions were held in West Hendon, The Hyde, Colindale, Burnt Oak Broadway,
Edgware, Mill Hill Broadway and Mill Hill East. In addition, a street to street
survey was carried out in an area adjoining Hendon Isolation Hospital and the staffs
of various small firms and shops were also X-rayed.
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