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78.
to deprive them of ii large number of otherwise prospective
patients, it is a very great pleasure to report that
the goodwill and co-operation which has existed
previously, continues in the present. It should be
remembered that the Borough of Fulham has a large
General Hospital within its borders : is adjacent to
several well-known Hospitals; and is "next door" to an
institution of world-wide reputation for Consumption
and Diseases of the Chest. Patients therefore could be
referred quite as easily to any of these institutions for
diagnosis, advice or treatment : and the fact that so
many cases are directly referred to the Dispensary by
local doctors can be justly considered an indication that
this department preserves its position as a unit for consultation
and advice; and that the utmost is done toi
assist them in arriving at the earliest possible diagnosis
and in procuring suitable treatment in sanatoria, etc.,
when circumstances so dictate. It is, moreover,
obvious that any public anti-tuberculosis service
could not be carried on with any degree of justice
or success unless a spirit of collaboration prevailed,
rather than one of competition : for it is to the general
practitioners that we look for so many of those "indefinite."
early or suspected cases, the type which, should
disease be discovered, responds with the greatest success
to immediate treatment in the sanatorium.
The Dispensary Medical Staff have in their work
always considered the interest of the practitioners, no
cases being seen without their knowledge; and patients
coming up to the Dispensary on their own initiative are
invariably advised to see their own doctors, a report
being also sent to the latter as well giving the circumstances
of the primary attendance.
Changes of disposal and all other matters which
are likely to be of help to the doctors, either as suggestions
for treatment or in preparing insurance records,
are also reported to them by letter : and no verbal
communications are made to patients beyond what are
necessary to allay anxiety or to secure acquiescence in
recommendations for institutional or other forms of
treatment.