View report page

offices of the National Assistance Board and Ministry of National Insurance, the
Housing Departments of Local Authorities, Councils of Social Service, the Chest and
Heart Association, Regimental Benevolent Associations, etc.
On the therapy side there is close liaison with Edgware General, Colindale and
West Hendon Hospitals of whose staffs our physicians are members. Patients are
sometimes referred to Clare Hall, Harefield, Pinewood and St. Charles' Hospitals
for treatment of tuberculosis, for thoracic surgery and for treatment in bronchitis
units. Patients for radiotherapy are referred to the Middlesex Hospital and to
Mount Vernon Hospital. Consultant staff from these hospitals are numbered amongst
the visiting consultants of the chest clinic
SOURCE OP PATIENTS
The majority of patients are referred to the Chest Clinic by their general
practitioners. Considerable use is made of the facilities for X-ray of the chest
without previous appointment. patients referred in this way are examined on 70mm.
miniature film and a number of them are subsequently called for examination by a
physician where this appears necessary.
Patients are also referred from the various divisions of the Out-patients
Department of Edgware General Hospital or from the In-patient Departments of
Edgware, Colindale and West Hendon hospitals. Others come from the Mass Radiography
Units and from Chest Clinic in other parts of the country (when a patient
moves his home into our area).
TUBERCULOSIS
The primary function of the Chest Clinic is to deal with pulmonary tuberculosis.
During 1962 the number of cases on the register fell by 144 and is now
about two thirds of what it was 10 years ago. The number of new cases of tuberculosis
was 17 less than in 1961 and about one half the number in 1952. Although
diminished the tuberculosis problem is not yet solved; but progress is
encouraging. Unfortunately, some new cases are still quite advanced by the time
that they are referred for investigation. The disease occurs particularly in
young people of both sexes and in the older males.
The fact that admission of tuberculous patients can be arranged without
much delay has meant that the serious problems of 10 years ago are no longer
with us, and has diminished the work of the Welfare Department quite considerably.
CARCINOMA OF THE LUNG
The diagnosis and treatment of this condition continues to be a major
35