[Report 1927] / Medical Officer of Health, Wakefield City.

  • Wakefield (England). City Council.
Date:
1927
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1927] / Medical Officer of Health, Wakefield City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    were received, but reports in respect of 5 other insured persons were not received. The Tuberculosis Dispensary continues to play an important role in the campaign against tuberculosis, although, so far as attendances are concerned, the work would appear to be consider¬ ably less than it was some years ago. This is partly due to a change in the character of the work, which, in compliance with the desire of the Ministry of Health, has become, except in cases requiring specialised treatment, largely limited to diagnostic functions, and partly to the diminished incidence of the disease itself. The Dispensary is provided mainly to afford assistance to medical practitioners in the early diagnosis of the disease and it is desirable that this service should be used to the full. Next to actual pre¬ vention itself, early diagnosis and early treatment are the essential factors in a successful campaign against tuberculosis and with the active co-operation of medical practitioners as well as of the public, for many cases still come too late to the doctor, the work of the Dispensary, successful as it has been, could still be usefully ex¬ tended. In a Circular issued by the Ministry of Health in March, 1927 (Circular 771), the official views on Dispensary administration and other aspects of tuberculosis work are set out, and may with advantage be quoted here as it deals with questions which are often put to the Tuberculosis Officer :— Dispensary Administration. “1. The primary duties of the Tuberculosis Officer should “ consist in the diagnosis of cases of tuberculosis, consultations “ with general practitioners (with whom the Tuberculosis Officer “ should endeavour to become personally acquainted in order that “ the fullest measure of co-operation may be secured), the searching “ out and examination of the ‘ contacts ’ of newly-notified and other “ cases of tuberculosis, the general supervision of patients not ‘‘ requiring active treatment, the ‘ following up ’ of patients for “ whose failure to continue in attendance at the dispensary no “ satisfactory reason has been ascertained, acting as medical “ adviser to any local organisation for care and after-care, and the “ education of the general public in the need for combined effort in “ the eradication of the disease. “ In the Minister’s view, actual treatment at the dispensary, as distinct from diagnosis, consultation and general supervision, “ should, as a rule, be limited to patients whose continued treat- “ ment requires special knowledge or technical skill, or wdio are “ unable to obtain other adequate medical attendance. Patients “ whose treatment does not call for the exercise of experience or “ skill beyond that which general practitioners ordinarily possess.