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14
the latter half of the year could be accommodated in the hospitals. There
were on many days after the end of June as many as from 10 to 15 patients in
the parish who could not be removed owing to the hospitals being full, and,
as in the majority of these cases efficient isolation was quite impossible, it
was not surprising that the disease was unduly prevalent.
In my report for 1895, I commented on the fact that the Managers of
the Asylums Board persisted in having the selection of patients for the beds
becoming vacant daily by deaths or discharges made by the officers employed
in the Ambulance Department of the Board, instead of consulting
with the Medical Officers of Health for the several districts, who were in a
position to know the circumstances and surroundings of all the patients
notified to them as suffering from infectious diseases, and could therefore
form an opinion as to which were really the most urgent cases; and during
1896 they continued the same method, but by requiring more particulars
respecting each case whose removal was requested, and exercising
apparently more judgment, the arrangement worked more satisfactorily than
has hitherto been the case, though I am still of opinion that the selection of
cases should, for the reasons I have stated, be as far as possible left to the
local officials.
Although the accommodation has been insufficient, the Managers of the
Asylums Board have made considerable efforts to meet the growing demands
of the Metropolis for adequate hospital accommodation, and while, six years
ago, the Board's normal accommodation for fever patients did not amount to
more than 2,100 beds in five acute and one convalescent hospital the existing
accommodation is as follows: —