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70
This number includes 251 males and 108 females. Of the
whole number 316, or 92.7 per cent., were sent by poor-law
medical officers with respect to poor-law patients, and many notifications
were received in respect of the same person. Thus,
when he first entered the workhouse he was notified by the workhouse
medical officer. Passing from the workhouse to the infirmary
he was notified by the infirmary medical officer. Then,
when he had picked up a little strength and a bank holiday or
other festival was approaching he sought his discharge and was
again notified by the workhouse master as about to be discharged
to a certain address in Finsbury.
Here he came under the supervision of the health authorities
until he fell ill again, when the system of notification outlined
above was once more re-enacted.
Thus, to take 10 specified poor-law patients, they cost the
Borough in notification fees alone in 1909 the following sums—
12/-, 8/6, 7/3, 6/6, 6/-, 5/3, 5/-, 3/9, 3/9, and 3/6 or £3/1/6 in all.
The total number of poor-law notices received referring to
316 different patients was 791 notifications and 234 discharge
notices—a total of 1025.
One poor-law patient was in and out of the Infirmary no less
than ten times in the year and was discharged to three different
addresses during this period, presumably infecting each one of
these places; on five occasions he went to reside at a common
lodging-house.
Other poor-law patients were discharged as follows:—10, 7,
7, 7, 5, 5, 3, and 3 times respectively, and proceeded straightway
in a large number of instances to one of the Finsbury common
lodging-houses.
Altogether 188 notifications of consumption were received from
Finsbury common lodging-houses, and 56 patients were discharged
to common lodging-houses.
It thus becomes obvious that the common lodging-house of the
present day tends to become little more than a receiving-house