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39
Cases on Register: The number of cases of tuberculosis on the
register at the end of the year was as follows:—
Respiratory:
Males 532
Females 441
Non-Respiratory:
Males 40
Females 28
Romford Chest Clinic.
Noted below are some notes from Dr. S. Thompson, the Consultant
Chest Physician:—
"During 1962 the Romford Chest Clinic has continued to serve the
needs of the combined areas of Romford Borough and Hornchurch
Urban District and, in addition to the general supervision of over 1,500
notified cases of tuberculosis, an increasing number of patients have
been referred by General Practitioners for chest symptoms not caused
by tuberculosis. This is a satisfactory tendency and every encouragement
is given to the general public, through their family doctors, to avail
themselves of the diagnostic facilities provided by the Chest Clinic. By
this means it has been possible to diagnose an increasing number of
cases of carcinoma of the lung, and when the death rate from this disease
alone is over 20,000 per annum the importance of early diagnosis cannot
be over-emphasised.
The Mass Radiography Units were very active in the area and all
cases with any abnormality in the miniature x-ray film are seen at the
Chest Clinic and full investigation is carried out. Most of these cases
are small, indolent tuberculous foci, which are followed up on the miniature
x-ray unit installed in the Chest Clinic.
All the school children with positive tuberculin skin tests are referred
to the Chest Clinic by the School Medical Officers and investigation
is carried out to ensure that no active tuberculous focus is present.
Examination of contacts to notified cases is done at regular intervals
and for this purpose the miniature x-ray unit in the Chest Clinic is most
useful. All the child contacts are offered B.C.G. vaccination and these
children are followed up to ensure that protection remains effective.
As my contract with the Regional Hospital Board ends this year it
is probable that, after 40 years' service, this will be the last report on the
Chest Services in the area that I shall submit. As I have been associated
with chest work most of my professional career 1 have seen remarkableeven
dramatic—changes in the control of the "white scourge"—tuberculosis,
and from the seclusion of my garden in Shenfield I shall follow
with unabated interest the further progress of the treatment of thoracic
disease to which I have devoted my professional life."