Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1940 / Papworth Village Settlement.

  • Papworth Village Settlement (Cambridge, England)
Date:
1940
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1940 / Papworth Village Settlement. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/28 (page 4)
    Machinery helps to translate training into a living wage (see page 3). are pleased that this should be so : but we are infinitely distressed because our waiting list—of applicants for admission—persists in remaining at a three-figure level. A Striking Contrast. This, surely, should not be allowed ? Compare the two pictures : in the outside world an urgent problem of infection, aggra¬ vated by overcrowding both in homes filled with “evacuees” and in air-raid shelters too: consumptive workers idle and wretched, a misery both to themselves and to the state. On the other hand there is the Papworth picture: the worker holding down a useful job at a Trades Union wage and his family protected to the maximum against the disease. Is it not possible to take a longer view, and to deal at last adequately and com¬ prehensively with the tuberculosis problem by providing at one and the same time treat¬ ment, housing and work for the patient, and protection for his family and dependents ? Papworth’s War Service. The facts that the war has found Papworth ready to do this sort of service for the country, and that it can and has expanded to fulfil this task more adequately, surely point the way towards the nation-wide alleviation of one of the unnecessarily festering sores of our civilisation ? PENDRILL VARRIER-JONES. January, 1941. The above Report was written personally by Sir Pendrill Varrier-Jones a few days before his very sudden death. THE MEDICAL SERVICES. Dr. D. MacCallum. Sir Pendrill, in his report above, has commented upon the scarcity of “early” cases amongst our admissions. This is es¬ pecially true in relation to civilian patients; Dut, as stated, the position with regard to service admissions is improving in this respect. During the latter part of 1940 and the early months of 1941 there has been a marked, and welcome, increase in the number of cases who can definitely be marked as “ early amongst the patients sent to us from units of the Forces. Medical Boards’ Problem. Some of these Service patients had already a record of Sanatorium treatment prior to enlistment: and while there are not many such, one can often sympathise with the Medical Boards which, when examining these patients, were not informed of this very material fact. It is not unusual for clinical examination of the lungs to give almost entirely negative results, the true state of affairs only becoming clear when X-ray evidence is available to demonstrate the nature and extent of the disease. The relationship between the clinical work —whose most notable feature during the t year under review is that just described— and the sociological picture naturally falls within my purview. Amongst our Service patients are some sent for observation and diagnosis. Medical Boards are frequently held at Papworth: and the men coming before them are serious and keen in their outlook. They have not despaired; though their future is not without its shadow, if the diagnosis is confirmed and discharge from the Services follows. Effect of Diagnosis. Many of the men have their pre-enlistment jobs waiting for them : but even so adiagnosis of tuberculosis cannot be without an effect upon their careers. It cannot be ignored: and> the mental outlook thus induced is bound to affect the individual clinical picture. [4]‘I