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59
After-Care.—As outlined in my Report for 1946, the Tuberculosis
Care Committees are now accommodated within the respective
Dispensary premises.
The patient with a tuberculous lesion is not only a medical
problem but a social one too, and to treat the patient effectively
it is essential to tackle his environment. The latter task, and
possibly the more difficult one in many ways, devolves on the Care
Committee. It deals with the personal, domestic and economic
problems of the tuberculous patient, and these include enquiry into
home conditions, provision of extra clothing, recommendations for
rehousing, and help in finding employment. It gives advice
regarding statutory entitlements, and financial assistance from
charitable funds in exceptional circumstances. In addition the
Committee manage handicraft classes for those patients who are
not yet fit for work.
SCABIES AND VERMINOUS CONDITIONS.

The number of adults and children under school age requiring
cleansing from head or body lice shows an improvement, and
there was also a decrease in the number of schoolchildren deloused
during the year.
It is hoped that the advice on this subject given by the Health
Visitors as a routine during their visits to homes and at the Clinics,
coupled with the efforts of the school medical service and others,
will reduce the amount of verminous infestation, but progress in this
direction is undoubtedly retarded by the housing difficulties and
overcrowding which have resulted from the war.