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84
TUBERCULOSIS DISPENSARY.
Report for 1914.
Lttton Maitland, M.D. Lond,, D.P.H. Camb.,
Tuberculosis Officer.
Royal Hospital for Diseases of the Chest,
City Road, London, E.C.
February, 1915.
To the Medical Officer of Health, Town Hall, Shoreditch.
Sir,
In the absence of Dr. Maitland on sick leave, I beg to submit the
following Report:—
The Tuberculosis Dispensary in connection with the Royal Hospital for
Diseases of the Chest has now been established for over two years and is in full
working order.
For the first 12 months after the establishment of the Dispensary at the
Hospital, tuberculosis patients were treated indiscriminately from all the surrounding
boroughs, and were also advised as to the precautions to be taken to
prevent the spread of infection.
As the result of negotiations between the Hospital and the Borough Council
of Shoreditch it was decided that the Prevention of Consumption Department
should act as the special Tuberculosis Dispensary for the Borough—an arrangement
which immediately received the approval of the Local Government Board,
and came into operation on April 1st, 1913. A joint Dispensary Committee was
appointed consisting of an equal number of representatives from the Borough
Council and the Hospital, and to which all matters connected with the management
of the Dispensary are referred for decision. The Chairman of the Hospital—
Mr. De La Rue—was appointed Chairman of the Committee, and the Medical
Officer of Health—Dr. Bryett—Yice-Chairman. The members of the Committee
have worked together most harmoniously, and the meetings have been animated
by a common desire to enhance the usefulness and value of the Dispensary to the
inhabitants of the Borough.
Since this department has acted as the special Dispensary for Shoreditch the
proportion of patients for the various boroughs has considerably altered. Thus,
while in 1913, 68 per cent. of the cases (2,918 out of 4,290 total attendances) came
from Shoreditch, in 1914, 88 per cent. (3,806 out of 4,497 total attendances)
belonged to this Borough.
The Tuberculosis Officer and Visiting Sister are for the purposes of Articles XI.
and XII. of the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Regulations, 1912, officers of the
Borough Council. They act in close co-operation with the Medical Officer of