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34
the year by the examination of throat swabs. The discovery and
isolation of this case, which caused two others in the same household,
undoubtedly prevented an outbreak of this disease. The
above tables, too, show that the laboratory is supplying a want,
and that it is an important factor in the efficient organisation of
the Public Health work of the district.
Isolation Hospital Accommodation. This district, with the
Borough of Richmond (Surrey), maintains two Isolation Hospitals:—
(1). Mogden Hospital for Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria and
Entertic Fever. It has 61 beds, allowing 1,500 cubic feet of
air space to each bed.
(2). Dockwell Hospital for Small-pox. It has 13 beds,
allowing 1,500 cubic feet of air space per bed.
No definite number of beds is assigned to either Authority,
but on the basis of the amount of money spent by each in the
upkeep of the Hospitals, it may be said that there are 45 beds
(37 at Mogden and 8 at Dockwell) for Richmond, and 29 beds
(24 at Mogden and 5 at Dockwell) for Heston and Isleworth.
Cases removed to Hospital. During the year, 85 cases were
isolated in Hospital. But of this number, 4 entered the Metropolitan
Asylums Board Hospitals, 1 was a nurse at Mogden Hospital,
and 8 were cases entering the Hospital from public institutions
in the district receiving persons from outside the district. Seventytwo
cases, therefore, entered Mogden Hospital, which were
chargeable to the District Rate. The total cost of these 72 cases
was £1,568 or £21 15s. 0d. per patient for an average stay of
49 days per case.
Where the object at stake is the prevention of disease, it is
not easy to estimate in terms of hard cash what the cost should be.
But I think that for the results obtained, Isolation Hospitals are
much too expensive. The usual idea of an Isolation Hospital is that
it is a place to which all and sundry cases of Scarlet Fever,
Diphtheria, Enteric Fever and Small-pox must be removed. If
this is correct, our Isolation Hospitals at present are lamentably
undersized, and increasing and ever-increasing expenditure has got
to be faced by the advocates of that view.