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135
Fourteen patients received full or partial dentures at a cost of £43 15s. Od.
and payments by patients amounted to £12 10s. 6d. Where patients are entitled to
dental benefits from approved societies these sums are taken into account. Repairs
to dentures were made in two cases.
Home Nursing.—The nursing in their own homes of patients with advanced
disease who cannot be persuaded to enter hospital, becomes an essential part of any
Tuberculosis Scheme, and arrangements have been made with all the local nursing
associations whereby the cost of nursing such patients is defrayed by the Borough
Council when the Tuberculosis Officer certifies the necessity for such service.
During the year 1,549 visits were paid at a cost to the Council of £96 16s. 3d.
Co-operation with Maternity and Child Welfare Service.—Interchange of information
between the two departments is constantly taking place. Any non-tuberculous
but debilitated or ailing child under five years of age is referred to the Maternity
and Child Welfare department, and vice versa, the Tuberculosis Dispensary is
informed of any child attending the Health Centres whose condition suggests that
there is a possibility of a tuberculous infection.
Co-operation with the School Medical Service.—The relationship between the
School Medical Service and the dispensary is very close. The school medical
officers frequently refer doubtful cases for opinion, and all the child contacts of
school age living in association with positive sputum cases are referred to the
school medical service for special observation and supervision. Where children
when examined are found to be non-tuberculous but to be suffering from minor
ailments, or unsatisfactory dental conditions, they are referred to the School Clinic
for necessary treatment. The School Care Organiser is a member of the Tuberculosis
Care Committee and thus very close contact is maintained between the dispensary
and the School Care Committees, and where necessary free dinners and free milk
are provided by the school service.
Co-operation with the Public Assistance Committee.—Arrangements have been
completed by which the Tuberculosis Dispensary is in frequent consultation with
the Public Assistance Committee on questions relating to tuberculous people who
are in receipt of relief. The Public Assistance Committee refer such patients to the
Tuberculosis Officer for the necessary certificates as to extra nourishment, and
where such patients are physically unable, or where it is undesirable for them to
attend at the offices of the Public Assistance Committee, they are exempt from
doing so on a certificate from the Tuberculosis Officer. In other matters, such as
fares for relatives to visit patients in sanatoria, and hospitals, clothes, etc., there
is the closest co-operation between these bodies.
Co-operation with Local Practitioners.—During the year 133 patients were seen
by the Tuberculosis Officer at home in consultation and 410 were referred to the
dispensary by local practitioners for opinion.