View report page

81
1897
In this table it is seen, on comparing each quarter with the
corresponding quarters of 1891-6, that there was a very substantial
reduction in the fatality. Thus in the first quarter's return there was
a decrease of 7.6, in the second of 100, in the third of 5.2, and in the
fourth of 5.6. On the year it was 7.6.
The decrease in the fatality was not confined solely to patients
treated in Public Institutions. Indeed it was even more noticeable
among those patients treated at home, for while 17.7 per cent. of
the former died, only 15.2 per cent. of the latter succumbed.

It will be noticed that the hospital fatality was greatest in the
first quarter, and the home fatality in the fourth quarter. It will
also be noticed that the proportion of deaths among the patients
nursed at home was generally less than among those sent to hospital.
This may be, and indeed is, explained by the fact that, whereas the
less acute cases are kept at home, as a rule the more grave cases, e.g ,
those requiring tracheotomy, are sent to hospital, and therefore, the
fact that the fatality among the hospital cases is greater than that
f