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69
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE AMBULANCE
COMMITTEE.
I submit a risumi of this report with satisfaction. It is
fitting that every Sanitary Authority in the Metropolis should
know something of the great work being carried on in their
behalf by the Metropolitan Asylums Board.
The Committee state that both scarlet fever and diphtheria
were less prevalent in 1897 than in 1896. Of scarlet fever
22,850 cases were notified, as compared with 25,647 in 1896;
of diphtheria 12,803 cases, as against 13,362. During the
month of August 77 per cent. of the notified scarlet fever
cases, and 58 per cent. of the diphtheria cases, were
received into the hospitals; and "it again became necessary to
limit admission to cases in which, as a consequence of their
surroundings and conditions of life, the. need of isolation was
most urgent." The Managers wisely took special steps to
increase the number of beds for diphtheria, the more dangerous
of the two diseases, by diverting some of the accommodation
provided for scarlet fever; and the cases of diphtheria which
failed to obtain admission were comparatively few in number.
The new Park Hospital, at Hither Green, was not brought
into use until the 8th November—too late in the season to be
of much service, the prevalence of both scarlet fever and diphtheria
being then on the decline. The Grove Hospital, at
Tooting, and the additional wards for diphtheria cases at the
Western Hospital, will, it is anticipated, be completed and
brought into use in 1898.
The second of the new Ambulance Stations—the NorthWestern—commenced
operations on the 1st September last.
It is hoped that the third—the South-Western—will be opened
at an early date in 1898.
Land Service.—Scarlet Fever patients to the number
of 22,795 were removed to the hospitals, as compared with