Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1948 / Papworth Village Settlement.

  • Papworth Village Settlement (Cambridge, England)
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1948 / Papworth Village Settlement. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/14 (page 8)
    DIRECTOR Reference was made in last year’s Report to the early introduction of a Scheme, worked out in con¬ junction with the Ministry of Labour, whereby our patients could get training grants from the time they commenced work in our Industries. We had always believed at Papworth that there were two main obstacles to the prospective settler in our Village. The first was the period of training, during which he was a finan¬ cial loss to our Industrial economy, and could not command a pay packet suitable to his own needs and far less suitable to the needs of his depend¬ ants ; the second was the waiting period between the end of his training and the time when we could offer him a house in the Village to which to bring those dependants. We have now solved the first difficulty. The Ministry of Labour Scheme has been a great success, for 99 patient-workers were able to join it and in the past year 65 of our patients decided to colonize. This is the largest number since Papworth was founded thirty- one years ago. The second obstacle remains. Diffi¬ culties about licences and materials to build with can be overcome, but prices have soared steadily since the war so that it now costs three times as much as it did In 1939 to provide a house, even with our own colonist labour. The new Health Act, contrary to the belief of many people, does not help us In any way over the provision of industrial equipment, permanent em¬ [8] ployment, housing and Village amen¬ ities. These remain entirely in the hands of the Committee of Manage¬ ment. Responsibility for treatment in hospital and hostels has passed from the Local Authority to the Regional Board. The link between treatment and rehabilitation has remained un¬ broken although its machinery is diff¬ erent. Further than that no change has occurred, and nothing has happen¬ ed which lessens the onerous duty of the Committee. It would be an entire mistake to believe that Pap¬ worth requires less donations to carry on Its self-imposed task of seeing the proper end of treatment in estab¬ lishing the patient in a home of his own, with economic security and an opportunity to bring up his family in conditions that ensure that they will not break down with the disease that altered his whole life ; indeed the Committee needs even more help than ever before. One thing the new Health Act has done ; it has given Papworth the recognition which its medical reputa¬ tion deserves. We are to be placed in the status of a post-graduate teaching school. Junior medical officers will be of Trainee Standard, which means that by their work at Papworth they can rise to the position of Chest Physicians. The Nelson-Langermann Hospital is to be the main Thoracic Surgery Unit for the whole Region, and we hope to see shortly the founda¬ tions of a new Surgical block, so that we can deal with every form of disease that can be aided by the skill of the modern chest surgeon.