View report page

47
A large number of patients have been examined at the request of General
Practitioners, who desired a second opinion and possibly bacteriological examination
of the sputum.
The large number of children diagnosed as Pulmonary Tuberculosis suggests
the need for some special provision for dealing with the disease at school
age. It is hoped that the Dispensary will shortly have an addition to its usefulness
in the form of an open-air school, where some 30 or 40 children will be treated.
This, of course, is totally inadequate for the district, but it is a beginning in the right
direction, and no doubt in the comparatively near future this important aspect of
the work will receive more recognition than it does to-day.
Perhaps one of the greatest needs in London at the present time is adequate
provision for the isolation of advanced cases who may be dangerous to others, the
only means we have of dealing with these cases is through the Infirmary, and to
a very limited degree through the Homes for the Dying.
One feels that at least a large part of the accommodation at the existing Chest
Hospitals might be used to greater advantage if given over to the isolation of
Tuberculosis in its later and more infected stages.
As a result of the efforts which His Worship the Mayor—Alderman Potter—
made in connection with the memorial to the late King Edward VII., a sum of
nearly £1,000 was collected and will be used in furnishing and equipping three
Tuberculosis Dispensaries in the Borough, situated respectively in Stepney Green,
St. George's Street and Great Prescott Street. The premises in Arbour Square
were only taken temporarily, and the Dispensary will be removed to more commodious
premises in Stepney Green.
Borough Council beds in Sanatoria.—On the recommendation of the Public
Health Committee, the Council, as an experiment, retained 6 beds for male patients
at Fairlight Sanatorium at £50 per annum per bed, and 4 beds for females at Maitland
Sanatorium, Reading, at 28s. per week.
The patients were selected, and only those in the early stages of the disease
were chosen to be sent to the Sanatorium. It is too soon yet to state what permanent
benefit was received, but the following patients stayed for the period mentioned in
the report:—
Mrs. W., Lower Chapman Street, was admitted to Maitland Sanatorium on
July 17th, 1911, where she remained for 4 months. She gained 9 lbs. in weight, and
on her discharge her temperature was normal. She could walk one to two miles
and do housework without difficulty. The breath sounds were weak at the apices
of both lungs, but no crepitations could be heard. Her general health was much improved.
Six and half months after her discharge, it was found that her pulmonary