[Report 1951] / Medical Officer of Health, East Sussex County Council.

  • East Sussex (England). County Council
Date:
1951
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1951] / Medical Officer of Health, East Sussex County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/34 (page 10)
    Pulmonary Tuberculosis:— Urban Districts Rural Districts Other forms of Tuberculosis:— Urban Districts Rural Districts Deaths. 28 23 4 4 59 The active steps taken by the South East Metropolitan Regional Hospital Board increase the number of beds effectively available for the investigation and treatment of ear cases and of suspected cases have been of great benefit, as by the end of the year it cou: be said that such patients need not wait for admission. To bring about an improvemei so substantial in a matter of less than four years must have needed continued drive ar hard work. ip n ipi After the smallpox outbreak in the early part of the year, Bevendean Hospital wit closed for adaptations and so forth and was opened in March primarily as a diagnostic un fj for the assessment and initial treatment of early cases of tuberculosis. This, of course, h:i^i; helped materially to reduce the waiting lists and so enable patients to secure proper treatmei J at the earliest possible moment, especially as there has been an appropriate increase in tl | medical staffing locally. The next improvement needed, and of this it is clear the Board are well aware, is 1i reduce the waiting time for those patients who perhaps have extensive disease, but in who‘ cases considerable benefit might result from active operative treatment, not only to tl patient himself, but to the public at large. Merely as an example, a man with considerab knt disease mainly on one side might have a relapse and develop a cavity and sputum containir td tubercle bacilli. Surgical treatment in many such cases succeeds in closing the cavit; ns returning the man to work and (the most important point to those interested in preventioi cuts short the risk to others in contact with the patient. In 1951 the 51 deaths from respiratory tuberculosis in the administrative county ii eluded eight (say 16%) which had not been notified, and out of eight deaths from non respiratory disease one (12.5%) also had not been notified. In total, nine cases out of 5 deaths had not been notified (say 15%). While such figures expressed as percentages ai not very satisfactory, the total number of such failed notifications is very much smalk' owing to the continued, almost dramatic, drop in the number of deaths, as shown in th] following table:— Population. Death.s from Respiratory Tuberculosis, Deaths from N on-respiratory Tuberculosis. Total. 1948 33^.430 III 13 124 1949 336,240 97 8 105 1950 339,760 63 17 80 1951 341,200 51 8 59 Unfortunately (from the point of view of county records), hardly any chest clini in or serving the county area is confined to East Sussex patients; certainly every Ches, Physician works in at least two Health Authority areas. It has not so far been practicabl to extract from their clinic records statistics relating only to East Sussex patients s statistical tables relating to clinical work are not included in this year’s report. Tuberculosis Care and After-Care. The Chest Physicians in the area continue to serv the county, part time, for the purpo.ses of tuberculosis care and after-care; indeed, a they themselves point out, the clinical and .social aspects of any given patient’s illness are s inseparable that a competent clinician cannot deal with one without taking the other full into account. Discu.ssions take place not only with the Chest Physicians as a group, but wit' individuals, concerning procedure, principles or individual cases, and these have been foun of great value. The friendly co-operation of the Chest Physicians and the workers in sanatori ' and hospitals is gratefully acknowledged.