View report page

119
The authorities of the former hospital have already approached
the Local Government Board and asked their approval of the
Provident Department of that Hospital as a tuberculosis dispensary
under Section 16 (1) (a) of the National Insurance Act, 1911.
This Provident Department was closed on the 15th January this
year owing to the sickness section of the National Insurance Act
coming into operation at that time. The opportunity of utilising
these premises for the purpose suggested should not be allowed
to slip by without a careful enquiry as to the desirability of the
proposal.
The authorities of the Victoria Park Hospital for Diseases of
the Chest are, I understand, desirous that their Hospital should
also be utilised as a Tuberculosis Dispensary. This Hospital is
situated just beyond the south-east boundary of the Borough.
If this Hospital is to enter into the Dispensary Scheme for Hackney,
it should serve for the tuberculous population of the south-east
sub-district, while the Metropolitan Dispensary would serve the
remainder of the Borough.
Area and Population Served.—The Departmental Committee,
in their report, suggest one dispensary and its equivalent staff for
every 150,000 to 200,000 population in an Urban District. Hackney
has a total population estimated at the middle of 1911 at 222,674
persons. These are distributed in the different registration subdistricts
as follows:—

It will be seen that, on the standard suggested by the Departmental
Committee, Hackney will require two dispensaries. If the
Victoria Park Hospital Dispensary is made to serve the needs of