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22
Voluntary Associations.
Voluntary Hospitals.
The following general hospitals are situated in the City. Out-patient
departments are established at each and the total number of beds for
in-patients is 976:—
Westminster.—Broad Sanctuary.
St. George's.—Hyde Park Corner.
Charing Cross.—Agar Street, Strand.
Treatment is free at all of them for those who are unable to contribute
to the cost of treatment. It may be remarked parenthetically
that Westminster is the hospital area for London. In no other district
can be found so many voluntary hospitals or so many dealing with
special diseases.
Provident Dispensaries.
These are 4 in number, situated as follows:—
Public Dispensary, 122, Drury Lane, W.C.
St. George (Hanover Square), 16, Little Grosvenor Street, W.
Western Dispensary, 40, Rochester Row, S.W.
Westminster General Dispensary, 9, Gerrard Street, W.
They supply not only treatment to out-patients, but also visits by
their honorary medical officers to patients' homes. Resident medical
officers are attached to two of them for the purpose of undertaking
emergency work, either at the dispensary or in the homes of patients.
In some instances, special clinics for dental, ;eye, ear, nose and throat
work are held, while in one instance a district midwifery service is
provided.
The excellent services which these provident dispensaries provide
cannot be too highly praised. This work is carried on unobstrusively,
but none the less efficiently. It is feared that, in these days when
publicity is so effective, they have not made the fullest use of this instrument.
They are dependent on voluntary subscriptions and on the
small fees for membership (say, 1s. per month) which patients pay.
There is good reason to believe that National Health Insurance with its
medical services has to some extent deprived the dispensaries of much of
their opportunities for service, at least so far as insured workers are
concerned. But there is still a great need for the benefits of the
dispensaries among the dependents of those workers. At the present
time they supply the only medical services in the homes of the people for
those who are not insured and who cannot afford private medical
attendance and are yet not so distressed as to require the services of