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70
The immediate results of treatment are as follows :—
51 cases were discharged as " Quiescent."
60 cases were discharged as " Not Quiescent."
Of the latter, 38 cases were " improved " and 22 " not
improved." Out of the 126 cases discharged or died, 22 had
previously had one course of sanatorium treatment, whilst 11
had been in more than once. The average duration of treatment
for 1932 was approximately five weeks per patient less than in
1931. This was especially noticeable on the male side where,
on account of the fear of unemployment, men had to go back
to their work before the disease was quiescent. Phthisis, even
when it has a good hold upon a person's lungs, causes no pain
and perhaps the patient only notices a little inconvenience with
shortness of breath on exertion, plus a slight, dry cough, and
therefore feels he can return to work. He is probably the more
anxious to do so, especially when it is a question of either keeping
or losing his job. In such circumstances it is very difficult to
convince a patient that he should continue treatment in the sanatorium.
Those, however, who are more favourably situated,
having light and suitable employment together with a considerate
employer, are enabled to take full benefit from sanatorium treatment,
and when discharged have an exceedingly good chance of
continuing to remain fit and capable of sustaining the task of
the family wage-earner. Nevertheless, it is a poignant fact that
the question of how long a patient remains fit after deriving the
utmost benefit from his stay in the sanatorium, is as much an
economic as a medical problem, and in these stringent times it
well may be that too close a pruning in expenditure in the direction
of public health may store up a crop of untoward and perhaps
unlooked-for troubles hereafter.
In 1932 there were 18 patients admitted by ambulance (13
male and 5 female), 15 from general hospitals and 3 from their
homes, compared with 8 so transferred in 1931. A number of
these cases were seriously ill, suffering from advanced phthisis,
and it will be a great improvement as regards nursing facilities
and a relief to patients who are up and about, when the pavilion
for advanced cases is available for the reception of such patients.