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49
Treatment of patients at the Council's beds in
Sanatoria, and the after-history of such patients.
All the patients belonged to the wage-earning classes, and their admission to
the Sanatorium beds provided by the Council depended upon their inability to
pay the fees of private institutions, and upon their being certified as medically
suitable. Poor-law cases were not accepted as the Guardians made suitable
arrangements for them.
At first, the Council provided 6 beds for male patients at Fairlight Sanatorium,
Hastings, and 4 beds for females at Maitland Sanatorium, Reading. Strangely
enough, applications for treatment were comparatively few, and oftener than not,
there was a vacant bed. This caused the Public Health Committee to reduce
the number of beds to 4,—2 for males and 2 for females. The difficulty was
due to the want of any system for providing for the support of the sick worker's
family during his residence in the Sanatorium. He was thus prevented from
entering the Sanatorium at the earliest stage, while he yet felt himself capable
of working, and perhaps earning full wages. It is, however, at this stage of the
disease that the best results can be looked forward to. The necessities of his
family rather than his own progress towards recovery, might often induce him to
return to his work too soon. For this reason, the Sanatorium benefits of the
National Insurance Act influenced a larger number to enter the Sanatorium, and
will undoubtedly occupy a prominent place in the anti-tuberculosis campaign of
the future.
The number of persons treated in the Council's Sanatorium beds from July,
1911, to the end of 1913, was 48.
The average length of stay for each patient in the Council's beds was a little
over 4 months, while the average stay of insured persons in Sanatoria provided by
the London Insurance Committee was just under 2J months.
A large number after their return expressed their regret that they had not
made a longer stay at the Sanatorium.
The number of non-insured persons treated in the Council's Sanatoria beds in
1913 was 13.
The number of insured persons resident in the Borough of Stepney that
received Sanatorium treatment by the London Insurance Committee during the
same period was 283, and were referred to the following institutions for
treatment :—
Sanatoria ... 211
Mount Vernon Hospital ... 27
City of London Chest Hospital 13
City Road Chest Hospital ... 1
Brompton Hospital 22
Eversfield Chest Hospital ... 1
University College Hospital ... 3
Royal National Hospital ... 1
Metropolitan Hospital ... 3
The Mount ... ... ... 1