View report page

152
HOSPITALS COMMISSION.
In 1881, a Royal Commission was appointed to consider
the question of Hospital Accommodation for Infectious Diseases,
before which I gave evidence, a summary of which
will be found in my Annual Report for 1881 (pages 50—60
inclusive). In my Annual Report for 1882-83 (pages 28—39
inclusive) I dealt with the report of the Commission, reproducing
their " Practical Recommendations," which were in
accord with the principles, in regard to public health administration
in the Metropolis, for which I had long contended.
Amongst other principles, most of which first found expression
in these Reports, I may refer to (1) Compulsory Notification of
cases of infectious disease; (2) Compulsory Removal of the
sick to hospital when necessary for isolation ; (3) Unity in
Hospital Administration, and Representation of the Sanitary
Authorities on the Hospital Board ; (4) Separation of hospital
treatment from any connection with Poor-Law Relief, or, in
other words, abolition of the distinction between Pauper and
Non-pauper in respect to the treatment of infectious disease ;
(5) Free hospital treatment of persons suffering from infectious
disease ; (6) Provision of additional hospitals in London,
with skeleton staff of doctors, nurses, and other officers,
capable of extension, as necessary, to cope with emergencies ;
(7) Provision of hospitals outside London for removable cases
of small-pox, and for the reception of convalescents generally ;
and (8) Transference of Vaccination arrangements to the
Hospital (that is, the Sanitary) Authority. Previous sections
of this Report will have shown to how large an extent, either
by law or in practice, my views have already been carried
out. Parliamentary sanction, I doubt not, will sooner or later
be given to those recommendations which are still in advance
of public opinion.