View report page

22
(6) That the pressing need for the moment is the provision
of a hospital or hospitals in the country for the treatment of
persona in the acute and curable stage of the disease.
(7) That, having regard to the provision now made, or
which could be made, in separate wards at the various Poor
Law infirmaries, the chronic cases might, for the present at
any rate, be kept in town, where they could be visited by
iheir friends.
(8) That the need for sanatoria arises from the fact that
it is practically impossible to treat poor persons in their own
homes or in Poor Law infirmaries, in London, with any
reasonable hope of cure.
(9) That the great bulk of the cases occur amongst the
poor and the poorest classes of the people, who are unable
to make any contribution towards the expenses incident to
sanatorium treatment.
[N.B.—In 1899 (the only year for which reliable
statistics are available) a third of the deaths in London
from pulmonary phthisis (consumption) occurred in
Poor Law Institutions. Many of these sufferers might
have been cured, could they have obtained sanatorium
treatment at the beginning of their illnesses, and a
large amount of poverty and charge on the rates have
been thereby avoided. It is well known that many
persons reduced by consumption to a state of poverty
drift into the Workhouse and become a permanent
charge upon the rates, often leaving widows and orphans
in a state of destitution, whereas many such persons
might be cured if sanatorium treatment were made
available for them in the early stages of their diseases.]