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598 cases were brought before the Care Committee for consideration,
advice, and help, this number being nearly 100 in excess of last year. 452
were persons admitted or re-admitted to sanatorium or hospital for residential
treatment, and 146 were cases reported on as needing various kinds of assistance.
The latter figure is exactly twice that of last year, owing to the fact that now
all cases of tuberculosis, including homeless and destitute patients, are brought
to the notice of the Care Committee.
In August the London County Council decided to provide free residential
treatment for all cases of tuberculosis, so after this date the Committee's duty
of making an assessment towards the cost of treatment was changed to that
of considering the financial and home conditions of patients recommended for
sanatorium treatment, and deciding, not how much patients or their families
should pay, but what, if any, help were needed, and if so, how to provide
that help. A great deal of this assistance is obtained through the Public
Assistance Committee and the voluntary charitable societies.
Forty-two necessitous patients in sanatorium or hospital were provided
with clothing by the Public Assistance Committee, and in several cases letters
from the Tuberculosis Officers or the Secretary resulted in increased relief
being allowed to families on the grounds of tuberculosis.
The Charity Organisation Society gave clothes to several patients, they
paid for the parents to visit a child at Margate, and sent one woman for a
badly needed holiday.
The Jewish Board of Guardians again helped practically all the cases
recommended to them by the Care Committee, and the Red Cross Society,
the United Services Fund, and the Invalid Kitchens have given valuable help
from time to time.
Eleven patients returning from sanatorium have been lent single beds
and bedding by the Borough Council in order that they could sleep alone and
lessen the risk of infection to others.
In spite of the assistance given from outside charities, the secretary,
after ten years experience, feels strongly that there should be an emergency
fund to relieve urgent cases of distress which are brought to her notice from
time to time. One of the great difficulties about being obliged to refer all
cases needing assistance to outside bodies is that some time must necessarily
elapse before the help can be given. Each Society has its own enquiries to
make and Committees to consult before anything can be done, and apart from