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53
The General Purposes Committee (16th March), requested the Ambulance Committee to
submit to them a report on the question.
The report of the Ambulance Committee (2nd November) recorded the steps taken by them to
ascertain the views of the 60 Metropolitan Public Health and Poor Law Authorities, and showed
that 33 of these bodies would support an application by the Managers to the Local Government
Board, for the necessary legal authority to enable them to use their ambulance carriages for the
conveyance of non-infectious cases: only 16 of these bodies were averse to the proposal. The
Committee, moreover, having written to the secretaries of 33 London hospitals, to enquire whether
they considered it would be of advantage to the public if the Asylums Board were empowered to
place ambulance carriages at the service of the public at moderate charges? received replies which,
with one exception, were emphatically in favour of the proposal.
The report of the Committee went on to state that it was "generally recognised that
a public ambulance service for the conveyance of non-infectious cases is very much wante i in
London," and that; in their opinion "the Asylums Board is in the best position of any public
body to provide the service required." "Economy and efficiency," they said, "must result from
all the ambulance arrangements of London being under the control of one central authority of
great experience in such matters,"—a view which surely will be generally accepted—and, as is
indisputable, "the Board can carry out the work more economically than any other body, because
there is so much of its existing service which can be utilised for the purposes in view—such as
its extensive telephone system, and its clerical staff"; it being possible, moreover, to "reserve
a certain number of ambulance carriages exclusively for non-infectious work." Already, during
1903, the Mead Station vehicles had conveyed over 1,000 non-infectious cases—imbeciles and
children—to the Managers' Asylums, and the work was still going on. The Committee further
reported that, on an average of five years, the daily admissions to the asylums under the charge
of the County Council, and those of the Managers, is twelve; and as the vehicles of the Mead
Station are sufficient to effect at least 50 separate removals a day, they believed that there would
be" an ample margin for surgical cases and medical cases,* sufficient to meet all probable
demands." "On the grounds of economy and efficiency," therefore, the Committee thought that it
would be advisable for the Asylums Board to undertake the proposed work," and that it would be
"practicable for them to do so immediately the necessary legal authority can be obtained."
The report, having been approved by the General Purposes Committee (9th November), was
submitted (14th November) to the Managers, with a recommendation in favour of the proposals
contained therein being adopted. The report, after discussion, was referred back for further
consideration. On 28th November the General Purposes Committee presented a further report,
stating that they adhered to the opinion that it is "advisable for the Asylums Board to undertake
the proposed work, and that it is practicable for them to do so immediately the necessary legal
authority can be obtained."
The views of the two committees prevailed, and on the 28th November, the Managers
adopted the subjoined resolutions—
"That, in the opinion of the Managers, it is desirable and practicable to extend the
operations of their ambulance service so as to include the transport of medical, surgical,
and mental cases, for which application may from time to time be made by any authority or
person within the Metropolis; provided that such extension of the ambulance service shall
not be held to include the removal of cases of street accident, nor of patients to and from
the several lunatic asylums under the control of the London County Council, unless by
special sanction of the Ambulance Committee, or, in emergency, of the Chairman of that
Committee, or the Clerk to the Board.
"That, upon the necessary legal authority being obtained for the Managers by the Local
Government Board, the work be immediately undertaken, and a charge of 7s. 6d. made in
respect of each removal, and, in addition, a mileage of 1s. 6d. beyond the boundary of the
Metropolis."
The decision of the Local Government Board on the matter had not been received by the
Managers when this report went to press. It only remains to say that, in the interests of the
inhabitants of the Metropolis, it is to be desired that the decision may enable the Managers to
undertake the duty. It is to be hoped, moreover, that the County Council will see their way to
establish an efficient street ambulance service, the need for which was strongly urged upon the
candidates at the recent election, by the Metropolitan Street Ambulance Association.
* The reference to the Committee did not include street accident cases.