[Report 1933] / Medical Officer of Health, Belfast County Borough.

  • Belfast (Northern Ireland). County Borough Council.
Date:
1933
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1933] / Medical Officer of Health, Belfast County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    179/202 (page 175)
    MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL FOR TUBERCULOUS CHILDREN, BELFAST The Report of the Visiting Surgeon for the Year Ended 31st December, 1933 To the Medical Superintendent Officer of Health. Dear Dr. Thomson, I beg to submit my report on the Clinical work at Graymount Hospital, for the year 1933, and a survey of the patients discharged in the previous years since the opening of the hospital in 1921. Owing to the necessity for several years’ treatment, I find that, with fifty- eight beds, shghtly less than twenty-five per cent, of the patients can be dis- charged each year. This results in a small turn-over, but the longer I work with this type of case the more I am convinced that time is the most important factor in successful treatment. In most cases rapid improvement follows admission to hospital, and the patient presents a healthy appearance which is a testimonial to the effects of good food, fresh air and rest, but gives Httle or no indication of the stage of the bone disease Early discharge, at least in the case of the poor people with whom we are dealing, inevitably leads to recurrence. Even with the prolonged periods of treatment, shown in this report, the disease recurs in some cases, and any change should be rather towards increase than decrease of time in hospital. I mention this to show the necessity for increased accommodation, but I need not labour the point, as I believe it is well known to all concerned in the management of the hospital. Twelve new patients were admitted during 1933 and twelve discharged, one by death, ten with disease arrested and one improved. Fifty-six patients remained in hospital on the 1st Jan., 1934, twenty-seven cases of spinal disease, twelve cases of hip joint disease, ten cases of tuberculosis of the knee joint, two of tuberculosis of the ankle joint and five with multiple tuberculous lesions. In the survey of all the patients discharged up to the present, omitting a few who were removed by the parents and a few non-tuberculous cases, there are one hundred and seventy one cases to be considered. One hundred and thirty- eight or seventy-eight per cent, of these had their disease arrested. As, however, the term “ disease arrested ” does not convey any idea of the condition of the patient in regard to function and deformity, I have included a few notes on the condition of each patient on discharge or at subsequent in- spection. Three cases were improved, three unimproved, three had relapsed and six could not be traced.