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43
I hope the number of Sanatoria will increase year by year, so that the
patients can be removed in the early stages to them, and that Phthisis may
be recognised by people generally as a disease that is so curable. I am afraid
the advantages to be gained by making it a notifiable disease will not prove
of very great benefit to the community, unless further action is possible.
Even if the number of Sanatoria will be increased every year, it must be
borne in mind that it will be a great many years before this alone will have
much material effect on the death-rate from Phthisis. It must also not be lost
sight of, that two or three months residence in a Sanatorium is not an absolute
cure for consumption. The cure is more or less of a temporary nature, and
provision should be made for the after life of the patient in pure air and with
open air work. If at the end of three months residence the patient returns to
his former unsuitable and unhealthy occupation, the results will be found to
be disappointing.
Homeless.
99 deaths occurred at the Whitechapel Infirmary and Workhouse, and
10 at the Mile End Infirmary, among persons admitted from the streets without
an address or temporary lodgings of any kind. They were described as
homeless. This number does not, of course, include those that were admitted
from Common Lodging Houses, nor does it include those deaths that occurred
at various lunatic asylums, where no addresses could be given. Twenty
deaths occurred at the latter institutions stated to have been taken there from
the Stepney Union, 9 were said to belong to St. George's, 10 to Mile End, and
27 to Whitechapel.