The theme for World TB Day 2021 is ‘The Clock is ticking’.

Each year we commemorate World TB Day to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of tuberculosis (TB) and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic.

The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way for diagnosing and curing this disease.

Did you know that 63,000,000 lives have been saved since 2000 by global efforts to end TB?

However in 2019:

10,000,000 people were diagnosed with TB

1,400,000 patients died of TB

465,000 patients fell ill with drug-resistant TB

Walsall TB Service is both an adult and paediatric service. It accepts all Active, Latent and Suspected TB referrals. Please email the referrals to the service’s generic email address listed below.

The team’s target is:

1. To see all active pulmonary patients within two working days
2. To see all non-pulmonary cases seen within two weeks of receiving referrals.

If you have a patient with suspected TB, please:

1. Isolate the patient in single room until further investigations
2. Then contact the TB Service for review. Colleagues will review and liaise with the Infection Prevention and Control team and respective wards.

The last 12 months has been challenging with Covid but Walsall TB Service has continued to deliver outstanding service in diagnosing and treating patients both in acute and community settings.

Walsall Healthcare’s TB service is based at Town Wharf, Block 4, Flat 26 Cavell Close, Walsall, WS2 9NG.

All referrals to the TB Service can be made to: walsall.tbservice@nhs.net