[Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Chatham Borough.
- Chatham (Kent, England). Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1913
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Chatham Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
49/66 page 43
![With the actual treatment of Tuberculosis, County Areas and County Boroughs are chiefly concerned, and Chatham fomis an integral part of the Kent Comity Council Area, the administration being under the control of the County Medical Officer. In my Report for 1912 I was able to announce the outlines of the County Scheme of treatment. This scheme is gradually developing, and a Tuberculosis Dispensary for this district has been opened at Gillingham. The provisional arrangements of 1912 embraced a resolution to defer for 12 months the actual provision of Sanatorium and Hospital beds, and that period having expired, it has been decided to erect a central Sanatorium at Lenham for 100 beds, and to pro- vide 75 Hospital beds at existing institutions. The Sanatorium will not be ready for occupation before 1915. There are now four Dis- pensaries in operation in the North Kent i)art of the County. The functions of a Tuberculosis Dispensary were described in the 1912 Report, and the County Medical Officer has drawn up certain conditions for treatment, which may be briefly embodied. Admission will be on the recommendation of Medical Practitioners only, and attention will l)e given to the following groups of patients — 1. Insured patients by arrangement between the Panel Doctor and the Tuberculosis Officer, 2. Non-insured persons. (a) Private ])atients by doctors’ recommendation. (b) Poor Law patients by Poor I>aw Medical Officer. (c) Cases sent by Medical Officers of Health. (d'y ,, ,, School Medical Officer. (e) Contracts of insured patients referred by the Tubercu- losis Officer. The Sanitary Authority as such is only indirectly concerned with the treatment of existing diseases, but it is directly concerned with pre- ventive measures. In the case of Tuberculosis, curative treatment must go hand in hand with preventive treatment, and it is difficult to say where one ends and the other begins ; one essential to success lies in the harmonious co-operation of medical practitioners. Medical Officers of Health, and Tuberculosis Officers, and it appears to me that, with a common object in view, each will attack the problem from a different side, and in a manner that need not antagonise or clash with the methods of the co-worker. All notifications come primarily to the Medical Officer of Health, and the procedure on receipt of one is to send an Inspector to visit the house, and to fill in a printed schedule of particulars relating to the patient, his family history, previous and present state of health, occupation, circumstances, particulars as tO' sanitary condition of house, and lists of contacts. The same Inspector keeps in touch with the cases throughout, and this I consider important. Leaflets](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29098920_0049.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
