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55
The names of 65 applicants for admission to the Sanatorium
were entered on the register during the year, compared with 50
in 1905. Of these, four are still awaiting admission, and 29 were
admitted. A few who could not at once be admitted to Peppard,
or were too far advanced to be accepted, were admitted to Convalescent
Homes, Consumption Hospitals, other Sanatoriums, or
to the Workhouse Infirmary; but all received instructions as to
means to be taken to promote their own health and avoid infecting
others. Indeed, the Sanatorium is found a very useful means of
obtaining notifications of phthisis which would otherwise not be
heard of until death occurred. In several, who with prompt
sanatorium treatment might probably have been restored to health,
the disease had advanced too far for admission when their turn
came. Twice as many beds as the Council maintains could be
easily kept occupied, and twice as many consumptives have their
health restored at least for some years.
A convalescent home is a very poor substitute for a sanatorium;
it might, perhaps, be used with advantage after a short stay in a
sanatorium had educated the patient to take care of himself. As
it is, many patients come back from the home in a worse state
than when they go.
92. The Woolwich Guardians have recently given special
consideration to the subject of the Infirmary provision for phthisis
cases, with the object of giving a number of inmates the benefit of
open-air treatment and isolating them from other cases. Four
beds for men have been placed out of doors under a temporary
shelter, well protected from wind, and facing the south, and
mackintosh sheets provided for wet weather. A balcony for
women has been constructed, well protected above and on three
sides, but fully exposed to the south side. The results so far
obtained have been very satisfactory.