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56
AMBULANCE SERVICE.
Ambulance Arrangements.—Kensington patients are removed to hospital by the staff at
the Western Station, which adjoins the Western Hospital, Seagrave Road, Fulham. In the
early part of 1900, the Managers on removing to their new offices, Victoria Embankment (corner of
Carmelite Street, E.C.), arranged for the reception there of applications for the removal of the sick
to hospital between the hours of 9 in the morning and 8 in the evening, on all days of the year, so
that it is now necessary to apply at the ambulance stations between 8 in the evening and 9 in the
morning, only. It cannot be too widely known that the sick are admitted on application, the sole
condition being the presentation of a certificate signed by a registered medical practitioner as
evidence of the nature of the disease and the fitness of the patient for removal. The application
may be made by anyone, personally, or by letter, or by telegraph, or by telephone. The
telegraphic address is " Asylums Board London "; the telephone numbers are 2461, 2462, 2463,
2464, and 2465 " Holborn," and 456 '"'Central."
Removal of the Sick to Hospital.—The removal of the sick to hospital, whether by land
or by water, is now effected in a satisfactory manner. The use of public vehicles by persons
suffering from infectious disease is unlawful. Very rarely do we hear of the use of a cab, wittingly
or unwittingly, for this purpose. In such a case the vehicle is usually lost sight of before
discovery of the nature of the illness, and so does not get disinfected. This is no doubt a danger
to the public, but it is of rare occurrence compared with the time before the passing of the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, the 70th section of which forbids the employment of public
vehicles. No breach of the law in this respect came to my knowledge last year.
Extended Use of the Ambulances.—In October, 1903, the Managers of the Asylums
Board decided to allow the free use of their ambulances for the conveyance from the general hospitals
to their homes of persons suffering from measles. The question had come before the Board upon
an application, from the East Londcn Children's Hospital, that children taken to that institution for
treatment in the out-patient department, and found to be suffering from measles, might be conveyed
to their homes in the Board's ambulances free of cost, the parents not being in a position to
defray the ordinary charge of five shillings. Last year, a similar application with respect to persons
suffering from erysipelas, made to the Board by the Secretary-Superintendent of the Middlesex
Hospital, received equally favourable consideration, the Managers having resolved, upon the
recommendation of the Ambulance Committee, to authorise the Committee to " allow the use of
the ambulances for the free conveyance of persons suffering from erysipelas who are not in a
position to pay the ordinary charge for the service." The concession, as in the former instance,
applies to the case of all general hospitals.
Proposed Metropolitan Ambulance Service for the Non-Infectious Sick, etc.—
The many references in former reports to the Ambulance Service of the Metropolis, had relation to
the conveyance of persons suffering from dangerous infectious diseases to the hospitals of the
Asylums Board, or to the conveyance, on payment of a prescribed fee, of persons so suffering, to and
from hospitals and places other than hospitals provided by the Managers, as authorised by the
Public Health (London) Act, 1891, section 79 (3).
But there are other sides to the Ambulance question, one of which was dealt with in a report
by the Medical Officer of Health of the London County Council at the latter end of 1902, and in a
prefatory note thereto by Sir William J. Collins, Chairman of the Ambulance Sub-Committee of the
General Purposes Committee ; that, namely, of the conveyance to hospitals, or elsewhere, of persons
seized with illness, or meeting with accidents, in the streets or other public places, a duty hitherto
discharged mainly by the police. Consideration of the subject by the Committee arose out of an
offer made by a gentleman, in the earlier part of 1901, to " present to the Council an electric
ambulance to be used for the conveyance of persons injured in the street." The report of the
Committee, dated 8th December, 1902, was considered by the Council, December 16th, when the
following resolution was adopted :—
" That the course taken by the General Purposes Committee in obtaining information
with reference to the ambulance provision in London for dealing with cases of accident or
sudden illness in the streets or other public places, be approved; and that it be an instruction
to the Committee to report further on the subject."