Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1946 / Papworth Village Settlement.

  • Papworth Village Settlement (Cambridge, England)
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1946 / Papworth Village Settlement. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/24 (page 10)
    DIRECTOR I have the honour to present the Annual Report for the year ended December 31st 1946. As the Chairman of our Committee of Management has mentioned, we have suffered a severe loss in the death of Sir Walter Langdon Brown, and I wish to record with gratitude his un¬ selfish help to me over many years on every aspect of the work of the Settle¬ ment. Mr. Bidwell has also called attention to the unfortunate necessity to close down some of our beds. For this there is a two-fold reason. The staff¬ ing of Sanatoria all over the country presents a very serious problem. Tu¬ berculosis nursing is not yet given the pay or the standing to which it is entitled. The new Rushcliffe Scales do not recognize the specialized form of the work, which must usually be undertaken in isolated conditions. It is to be hoped that the General Nursing Council will consider this fact, and that it will also institute a Register of Assistant Nurses as has been urged by the Tuberculosis Assoc¬ iation and the Joint Tuberculosis Coun¬ cil. Otherwise our difficulties are bound to increase. The second reason is the type of case which we have been compelled to admit since the outbreak of war. A large majority of our patients are in the advanced stage of the disease. Not only does this add very materially to the arduous work of the nursing staff by increased bed treatment ; it also defeats the main object of our Settle¬ ment, which is to arrest the disease by graduated rest and modern methods of collapse therapy, and to rehabilitate those who can return to work in their former occupations or in sheltered industry. Only such patients can hope to secure the true end of treatment by getting back to community and family life, supporting themselves and their dependants, and contributing to the national economy. The duty of the Sanatorium in its public health aspect of segregation of the infectious is now¬ adays of less ultimate importance than its duty to the Individual. We must face facts resulting from an all-round reduction in bed capacity ; we must remember that one dying case retained in an Institution denies treatment to three early cases, who must run the grave risk of themselves becoming ad¬ vanced while waiting for admission. During the summer we had a visit for one month from Dr. Wittkower, research scholar of the N.A.P.T. He made a close study of the social aspects of our work, and gave much valuable advice on points which are the found¬ ation of the working of our Personnel Panel. One result has been the deci¬ sion to appoint a Social Worker who will keep in close touch with the patient from the time of admission, and help the medical and nursing staff in the task of aiding him to accommod¬ ate himself to his new way of life. R. R. TRAIL, Medical Director. [10]