View report page

vi
With all these considerations in mind, the Council, therefore, with the consent of the Local
Government Board decided to make grants in aid to three hostels, on the understanding that the
patients for whom board and residence were provided were women and girls in attendance at the venereal
disease clinics included in the Joint scheme. The three hostels were (1) the Women's After-care
Hostel, Highbury-quadrant; (2) the Hostel, Burton-street (attached-to the Royal Free Hospital); (3)
the Hostel at St. Mary's-street, Woolwich, under the auspices of the Southwark Diocesan Association,,
subsequently transferred to 80, Stockwell Park-road.
The arrangements in the case of each hostel were in the hands of a committee of voluntary workers
to which representatives of the medical staff and almoners of certain of the venereal disease clinics
were elected, so as to ensure close co-operation and consultation where necessary. The grant in aid
was distributed in exactly the same manner as in the case of the hospitals, and the Local Government
Board repaid 75 per cent, of the amount.
The only other development of importance during the year 1917 was the provision of a special
hospital for the in-patient treatment of cases of ophthalmia neonatorum by the Metropolitan Asylums
Board. In this connection it may be noted that on the 5th July, 1917, a deputation, consisting of
certain well-known ophthalmologists, waited upon the Public Health Committee of the Council and
drew attention to the urgent need for special arrangements being made for the treatment of this disease.
It was intended to make such arrangements in the Council's scheme for 1918, but in the meantime,
after consultation with the Local Government Board, it was found possible to make such provision
immediately by means of an institution in the possession of the Metropolitan Asylums Board, now
known as St. Margaret's Hospital, Kentish Town, which contained accommodation for 18 mothers and
30 children, and was opened on the 16th September, 1918. Under the circumstances, the Council
decided to take no further action in this direction until an opportunity should occur at a later date
to report upon the results of the provision made at St. Margaret's Hospital.
1918.—During this year the venereal diseases scheme was continued on substantially the same
lines as in 1917. Increased grants in aid were made to most of the hospitals owing to the greater number
of patients in attendance at the clinics, and the larger demand upon the laboratory facilities of the
hospitals for the examination of specimens sent by medical practitioners. (Appendix A.) Great
difficulties continued to be encountered in connection with the provision of medical and nursing
staff, owing to the very pressing demands for both arising out of the Great War, and also to the
growth of the work of the clinics themselves.
Two additional hospitals were included in the list of institutions approved for the work,
viz., the Royal Albert Dock Hospital and the City of London Lying-in Hospital, City-road, but the
latter hospital was unable to carry out its undertaking, and had to be withdrawn from the list.
Increased grants were also made to the three hostels included in the arrangements for the year
and it is very satisfactory to note that the best anticipations of the useful work likely to be done by
these institutions were fulfilled.
Special enquiries and reports were made into the following matters :—
(a) The large number of patients who ceased to attend before completing treatment.
(b) The need for agreement upon the standard of cure in both syphilis and gonorrhoea.
(c) The great difficulty of providing satisfactory treatment for children suffering from
gonorrhoea.
(d) The urgent need for a carefully considered system of recording the statistics of the
venereal disease clinics.
During the year 1918 it was decided that the grants in aid to hospitals and hostels would be
made in future years for the period of the financial year of the Council, i.e., from April 1st to 31st March,
instead of as heretofore for the calendar year. This alteration, though accompanied at the moment
by some inconvenience to all parties concerned, was agreed to because of its advantages in other
directions :—
(1) On financial grounds it was convenient for all the local authorities participating in
the London scheme.
(2) The hospitals and hostels, having expressed a desire to continue the system of grants
in aid by lump sum, were enabled in the early portion of each year to submit statistics of the
work of the venereal disease clinics for a full calendar year, and from these data it became
possible to calculate more accurately the amount of the grant in aid for the year commencing
1st April, immediately following the receipt of such statistics.
For these reasons the grants made by the councils concerned at the end of 1918 were for a period
of fifteen months, terminating on 31st March, 1920, and the next complete report on the work of the
venereal disease clinics was submitted to the Council in February, 1920.
lst January, 1919, to 1st April, 1920.—Certain recommendations were made (a) in regard to
increased grants in aid to hospitals and hostels owing to a further large increase in the work of these
institutions in all sections of the venereal disease work, and (b) four additional institutions were added
to the list included in the scheme, viz. :—
The Bolingbroke Hospital, Wandsworth.
The Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields.
The City of London Lying-in Hospital (included in 1918 list but afterwards withdrawn).
Nos. 82-84, Stockwell Park-road (for the treatment of children suffering from gonorrhoea).
The City of London Lying-in Hospital was again compelled to withdraw its application owing
to financial difficulties in connection with the alteration and adaptation of existing premises and the
provision of certain additional premises which were necessary for satisfactorily carrying out the work