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52
Local Government Board, and the annual maintenance charge after crediting income
in respect of insured persons will be borne equally by the rates and the Treasury.
We therefore instructed the Medical Officer of Health to prepare and submit
to us a more detailed estimate of the cost of the establishment of a new dispensary,
and a copy of this estimate is embodied in his report. It will be observed that the
annual estimated expenditure is given at from £1,385 to £1,575.
The annual amount estimated to be chargeable to the local rates after receipt
of the contribution from the Insurance Funds and the Local Government Board's
grant is £190 to £290, and if to the latter amount is added the sum of £312 for the
reservation of two beds for males and two for females in Sanatoria for the accommodation
of uninsured persons, the net expense to the Borough of the Dispensary
Scheme will be £602, or £10 less than the amount paid by the Council for sanatorium
treatment for consumptives during the past year.
When these figures are considered, the Council should bear in mind that we
have received no official information as to the amount to be contributed by the
County Insurance Committee towards the cost of dispensary treatment; but the
Medical Officer has informed us that he bases his estimate that £1,000 will be received
for the treatment of insured persons upon the results of inquiries in various directions
and upon the information supplied to him by that Committee that the number of
insured persons resident in Stepney is 93,000, although this figure is much greater
than the Medical Officer of Health had himself estimated.
In the Departmental Committee's Report on Tuberculosis already referred to
it is suggested that in Urban Districts one dispensary might be allotted for every
150,000 to 200,000 inhabitants. On this basis there should be two dispensaries in
Stepney ; but although we should be prepared to recommend the Council to take
over the management of the three existing dispensaries which serve distinct and
well-defined areas and are undoubtedly conveniently situated for persons living in
the districts served, yet the work could, we think—at any rate, in its early stages—
be carried on in one building serving the whole of the Borough, although this would
not be nearly so convenient for the persons desiring treatment as the existing buildings.
On the grounds of economy, therefore, we should only be prepared to recommend
the Council to establish one new dispensary at present, especially as we think
that satisfactory arrangements can be made with the authorities of the London
Hospital and the Victoria Park Hospital for Diseases of the Chest for the establishment
of Branch Dispensaries attached to those institutions, as suggested by the
Medical Officer of Health.
As instructed by the Council we have given careful consideration to the views
submitted by the Deputation from the Committee of the existing Tuberculosis
Dispensaries in the Borough.