View report page

45
We would remind the Council that Poor Law cases of pulmonary tuberculosis
first became notifiable on 1st January, 1908. This was followed by a further Order
making notifiable from 1st May, 1911, the cases of that disease which were treated
at hospitals, dispensaries, &c., and as and from the 1st January, 1912, cases of
pulmonary tuberculosis became generally notifiable. The system of notification
has since been extended to all cases of tuberculosis.
It will be remembered that the provisions of the National Insurance Act, 1911,
did not confer upon Metropolitan Borough Councils any statutory right to be
represented upon any authority executing the provisions of that Act, and the
Insurance Committee for the County of London has been, in fact, appointed without
reference to the Borough Councils
In accordance, however, with a scheme which has recently been published,
the Borough Councils have, as a matter of grace, been given a representation (onefifth
of the Committee) upon the District Insurance Committees of their respective
Boroughs.
The National Insurance Act requires County Insurance Committees to make
arrangements for insured persons to receive treatment for Tuberculosis, and empowers
them to extend their arrangements so as to include also the dependents or any class
of dependants of insured persons. The Act also provides that any estimated excess
of expenditure over income may be met as to half by the " Local Authority " and
as to the other half from the Exchequer in cases where the expenditure has been
sanctioned by the Local Authority and the Treasury.
We understand that the London County Council are undertaking the provision
of sanatorium treatment for consumptives and they will receive grants from the
Government and the Insurance Funds towards the cost of sanatoria, &c. The
County Insurance Committee will make arrangements with the London County
Council for the sanatorium treatment of insured persons and possibly the dependants,
and any non-insured persons recommended by approved Tuberculosis Dispensaries
for such treatment will no doubt be favourably considered with a view to sanatorium
treatment.
From the circulars of the Local Government Board we gather that the Board
desire that Metropolitan Borough Councils should submit schemes dealing with
Dispensary treatment locally for all tuberculous patients (whether insured or noninsured),
whilst, as indicated above, it is proposed to deal with sanatorium and
other institutional treatment for insured persons and probably their dependants
centrally. We should at this point, however, make it quite clear that there is no
legal obligation imposed on the Council to provide Dispensaries as proposed.