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82
SHOREDITCH TUBERCULOSIS CARE COMMITTEE.
The following is the annual report of the Tuberculosis Care Committee:—
The work of the Tuberculosis Care Committee has this year followed very closely
the lines laid down during the previous year. We have concentrated on the care of
the patient and his family, as we have now no assessment duties, and on the development
of the Tuberculosis Fund.
It will be noticed that the number of new patients on the Care Committee register
again shows a decrease and this has enabled the Committee to devote more time to
individual patients. This also brings out one point in connection with the appended
figures. The number of visits and interviews have certainly decreased since there
have been no assessments to make and no contributions to collect, but these were
matters of routine which rarely made the patient or his family feel grateful for the
existence of the Care Committee or encouraged him to say much about any difficulties
that might be worrying him. Practically all the present interviews and visits
may be properly classified as "care work" although they do not by any means all
give a material result. They do, however, in many cases, give some over-anxious
person an opportunity to talk over his worries, and wherever possible help is given.
The Shoreditch Tuberculosis Fund has now its own Committee which has issued
its first annual report, but naturally the Fund is closely connected with the Tuberculosis
Care Committee and cannot go unmentioned in this report. It can be seen
from the figures that the Care Committee was able to help a great many more cases
through the Fund this year. This has been possible owing to the very generous
support which has been given to the Fund, which, it is felt, will be of increasing help
to the Care Committee in its work.
Some word of explanation is needed if the figures are to give any real idea of what
the Committee has done. The clothing given has been mainly to patients on entering
sanatorium where clothing which can be worn at home is not adequate. In a few
cases clothing has been given to patients who are not going away and in some cases
to children who have been at a sanatorium for a long time, and while there have been
provided with clothing by the London County Council, but who are not allowed to
keep it on their discharge. The clothing which the child wore before going to the
sanatorium is no use for him a year or two later, and the mother cannot afford a
complete new outfit at a few weeks' notice.
So also with the phrase "fares paid;" in most cases it alludes to money paid for
relatives to visit patients in the sanatorium. In one case, however, it was for a patient
to come home for a week-end, and in another for a patient's wife to go away
for a short holiday. Rent has been paid when it has been needed in advance on account
of the patient's removal to better housing accommodation, and also when he has
through misfortune become so much in arrears as to cause him anxiety.
It should also be mentioned that the number of cases referred to the Public
Assistance Committee includes only those who are referred under rather special
circumstances where it is felt that, had the Care Committee not been there to advise
or to send a supporting letter, the application might not have been made. Similarly,
only special cases referred to the School Care Committee are mentioned although cases