[Report 1946] / Medical Officer of Health, Edinburgh City.

  • Edinburgh (Scotland). City Council.
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1946] / Medical Officer of Health, Edinburgh City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    45/200 (page 39)
    medical investigation, but also prevents them from unnecessary exposure to further infection such as would result from their attendance during the busy afternoon sessions held for the ordinary adult patients. Continued emphasis is laid on the extreme importance of contact examination, and the health visitors are tireless in their efforts to persuade all contacts to report at the dispensary for investigation. All young and adolescent contacts are sub- mitted to medical examination, tuberculin testing, and radioscopic investigation and all positive reactors to tuberculin tests have in addition an X-ray photograph taken of the lungs. The non-reactors are not radiographed. All contacts up to late adolescence are persuaded to report for re-examination and if necessary retesting with tuberculin, every quarter. The health visitors do not always find it an easy task to convince the contacts of the necessity for this procedure. The past year has shown a further increase in the number of patients attending the dispensaries as will be seen from the table on page 50. Thfe total of 20,898 for the Royal Victoria Dispensary constitutes a record for that institution. The fundamental importance of housing in relation to tuberculosis requires no emphasis at this time of day. During the year 379 families made application for rehousing and reports furnishing relevant particulars were submitted in each case to the Housing Department. Examination of recruits referred to the Tuberculosis Officer by the Recruiting Boards was begun shortly before the onset of war in 1939, and has continued uninterruptedly ever since. In the past year 215 recruits suspected by the Medical Boards as possible victims of tuberculosis were examined and X-rayed and a report furnished in each case. The number of cases of tuberculosis coming under the survey of the Ministry of Pensions shows evidence of a steady increase, and in a certain number of these patients detailed clinical and radiographic reports are furnished to the Ministry. During the year the number of such reports totalled 128. In order to assist as far as possible the Ministry of Labour authorities in their efforts to rehabilitate suitable tuberculous subjects, detailed reports are submitted on request. During the past year, 254 patients were surveyed and reported upon to the Ministry. The pre-employment examination—clinical and X-ray—of entrants to the printing and allied trades, which was begun as a pioneer effort at the Royal Victoria Dispensary some seventeen years ago, still goes on and the youths report for medical investigation on Saturday forenoons. During the war years the number of appren- tices appearing for examination appreciably diminished, but within recent months there has been a tendency to a return of pre-war standards. It is felt that this type of undertaking is well worth while, and it tends to prevent the induction ol an unsuitable type of entrant to the printing and allied trades. An extension of this pre-employment examination to other trades, industries and professions would assuredly be attended with benefit both to employer and employed. In order to sustain and further stimulate the interest of the health visitor staff of the Tuberculosis Department, a tuberculosis library has been started at the Royal Victoria Dispensary. This is gradually accumulating the latest British and American publications on all aspects of tuberculosis which are of concern and interest to the tuberculosis health visitor, and she is thus afforded an opportunity of keeping herself informed of the most up-to-date developments in anti-tuberculosis work, both at home and abroad.