London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Croydon 1908
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Croydon]
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suffering, great difficulty was experienced in finding room for the surplus patients. Nominally the accommodation at the hospital is made use of in the following way :—
| No. of Beds. | |
|---|---|
| Block A. is reserved for enteric fever | 12 |
| „ B. „ for diphtheria | 22 |
| „ E. „ for convalescent diphtheria | 24 |
| „ C. „ for scarlet fever | 46 |
| „ D. „ for complicated cases of scarlet fever | 23 |
| „ G. „ for convalescent scarlet fever patients | 12 |
| „ F. „ for doubtful cases and cases of wrong diagnosis | 6 |
| 145 |
During the past winter, half of the accommodation in Block F.
has had to be allotted to nurses on account of the insufficient
number of beds in the Administrative Block. The number of beds
for doubtful cases and cases of wrong diagnosis was therefore
reduced to three, which is insufficent. an insufficiency which could
not be compensated by admitting cases of wrong diagnosis to either
scarlet fever or diphtheria wards. Similarly the 46 beds allotted to
diphtheria patients was on several occasions insufficient and it was
no advantage to have spare beds in the scarlet fever wards. It
must therefore be clearly understood that the nominal accommodation
of the hospital is quite insufficient for the needs of the district.
During 1908 the average daily number of cases under treatment
amounted to 127.1 as compared with 109.5 in the previous-year.
The question of additional accommodation has advanced
a stage during the past few months but I fear that if there is much
further delay the number of extra beds previously agreed upon will
prove insufficient.