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Diphtheria Hospital Accommodation.—Even more imperative
than the want of more accommodation for scarlet fever and smallpox,
is "the want of further provision for cases of diphtheria," the
lack of accommodation for patients suffering from this disease having
been felt more or less during the whole year. The majority of the
cases for which beds were required, were ultimately received, but
disastrous delays were not infrequent, and delay in the removal of
diphtheria patients is "infinitely more serious than in the case of
scarlet fever." The Managers intend the provision of additional
beds for this disease at the new Fever Hospitals, but the Chairman
questions whether the proposed accommodation will prove adequate,
having regard to the progressive increase in this disease which the
Metropolis continues to experience; the notified cases, which were
5,907 in 1891, and 7,781 in 1892, having increased to 13,026 in
1893.
Cholera.—On the subject' of Cholera the Chairman states that
the Cholera Committee of the Board, "recognizing, as they were
bound to do, the possibility of the appearance of the disease in
London in an epidemic form, did not hesitate to exercise the powers
previously conferred upon them by the Local Government Board,"
by perfecting their arrangements for hospital accommodation and
transport of the sick, upon the same lines as in preceding years. An
account of these arrangements is given in a report by the physician
whose services, as "Cholera Superintendent," were retained by the
Managers.
Ambulance Department.—The work accomplished by the Ambulance
Committee is summarised by the Chairman, who refers to the
difficulties experienced at the Chief Offices of the Board, in the
selection of cases for removal, during the time admission to the
hospitals had to be limited, day by day, to the vacancies occurring
by discharges and deaths. It is proposed to establish a new ambulance
station at Hampstead, near the North-Western Hospital, and
provision, it is stated, will have to be made for one or more additional
ambulance stations, in the district south of the Thames, concurrently
with the establishment of the Brook, the Park, and the
Fountain permanent hospitals.