[Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Port Talbot Borough.

  • Port Talbot (Wales). Borough Council.
Date:
1949
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Port Talbot Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    GENERAL PROVISION OP HEALTH SERVICES IN THE BOROUGH. ( In this section, a brief general description of the services will be made as in previous years. Pull details of the administration and committees which are responsible for the local organisation of the health services have been omitted, NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE, This service, which was inaugurated on the 5th. July 1943, has made as yet no radical changes in the local facilities for the treatment of the sick and injured and the prevention of disease. There have however been a number of limited improvements though many of the old problems remain unsolved. These include the pressure of work on doctors, especially general practitioners, the shortage of dentists, the long waiting periods at hospital out-patients and doctor's surgeries, the depressing nature of such accommodation and the long hospital waiting lists especially for tuberculosis patients. 1, HOSPITALS. The administration of the local hospitals is the responsibility of the Mid Glamorgan Hospital Management Committee - office at 8 Wind Street, Neath. This committee has published a report on its work for the period 5th. July 1948 to December 31st. 1949. Puller details of the hospital arrangements in this area can be obtained from this report. (1) MEDICAL AND SURGICAL PATIENTS. The Port Talbot General Hospital, with 85 beds and a medical staff of specialists and a resident medical officer, dealt with 1600 in-patients and 11,161 out-patients during 1949* The long waiting list of ear, nose and throat patients continued as in previous years. This hospital urgently requires an out patient waiting room and a chest clinic. Prom the 4th. November 1949,. convalescent patients from this hospital were transferred to a convalescent ward at the Port Talbot Isolation Hospital, This arrangement hastened in patient treatment and should result in a reduction of the waiting lists. Neath General Hospital, a fully equipped hospital, also provides treatment facilities for citizens of the borough. A number of patients, with unusual I or problem complaints, were referred to Morriston Hospital and teaching hospitals at Cardiff, Oxford and London.