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123
The Difficulties of the Asylums Board.—At the
end of May, the hospital accommodation for scarlet fever
and diphtheria being exhausted, it became apparent that for
some considerable time there would be no beds available other
than those set free by discharges and deaths, and therefore
wholly incommensurate with the requirements of the Sanitary
Authorities. In view of this eventuality the Asylums Board,
on the 18th May, addressed a letter to the several Sanitary
Authorities, intimating the approaching exhaustion of their
resources and giving them notice of the probability that they
would shortly be called upon to make provision for the infectious
sick of their respective districts. The Managers at the
same time forwarded a copy of a communication which they
had addressed to the Local Government Board, on the 10th
May, " respecting the urgent need of more Infectious Hospitals
for the Metropolis, and the difficulty experienced by the
Managers in providing suitable sites for such hospitals." This
important communication expressed the regret with which the
Managers had received the intimation of the Board's decision
not to sanction the purchase of the Tooting Bee site, and their
feeling that the Board did not "sufficiently realise the gravity
of the situation." The Managers referred to the report on the
subject of necessary accommodation which they had forwarded
to the Board in January 1893, and whilst reminding the Board
that the demands on the hospitals during 1892 had been far
in excess of any previous experience, they stated their opinion
that there was every indication that the pressure would be
even greater in 1893, as indeed it proved. The increase in
applications for admission to the hospitals in 1892 was attributed
"not so much to any exceptional prevalence" of
scarlet fever, (for the deaths were 60 below the corrected
average number), "as to the operation of compulsory notification,"
the abolition of the Guardians' power to make
people pay for admission, and the "increased knowledge and
appreciation of the hospitals." The Managers pertinently
* This Report was summarised in my last report, page 107.