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for the departmental committee's convenience, was not to be regarded as committing
the Council in any way or as constituting evidence either as to facts or
policy on behalf of the Council, and should not form a precedent.
Dr. W. A. Daley, Chairman of the Hospital Standards Committee and two
other members of the committee, viz., Mr. J. Malcolm, a divisional engineer, and
Mr. F. R. Hiorns, an assistant architect, were appointed to attend before the
government committee to assist them with information in connection with the
interim report strictly limited to facts and the demonstration of provisional plans,
and subject to the condition that no official record should be made of their evidence.
As the interim report contained some 160 foolscap sheets of typewritten matter
it would clearly be impracticable for want of space to present even a brief summarised
description of the committee's discussions and conclusions. Furthermore,
the fact that the Council has not yet considered the report and pronounced its views
thereon as a matter of general policy precludes the publication of the document
even in a condensed form.
It would, however, not be inappropriate to give a synopsis of the report as an
indication of the extent and scope of the committee's discussions.
The report is arranged as follows:—
Section I.—General considerations of hospital provision.—Amount of
accommodation; types of hospital; optimum size of hospitals; site, accessibility
and acreage; lay-out of a typical general (or convalescent or recovery)
hospital; general structural considerations, viz.:—(i) type and materials of
construction; (ii) form of planning (horizontal or vertical); (iii) treatment
of internal surfaces; (iv) engineering services.
Section II.—Detailed consideration of the several units necessary in a
general hospital.—Entrance, porter's lodge and receiving block; administration
block and offices; staff quarters (including nurses' home); main kitchen;
ward blocks; operating theatre unit; technical store-rooms, dispensary, etc.;
massage and orthopaedic section; artificial sunlight department; maternity
department; children's section; X-ray department; isolation block;
ophthalmic department; throat, nose and ear department; dental department;
venereal diseases department; laboratory; out-patients' department;
laundry; disinfector; ambulances and ambulance stations; mental obsersation
wards; mortuary and post-mortem room; means of communication
between administration and other blocks; means of escape from fire and
precautions against an outbreak; chapel.
Section III.—Provision of special hospitals.—Maternity; convalescent or
recovery; tuberculosis.
Section IV.—Costs of hospital construction.
Section V.—Standardisation of hospital supplies and equipment.
Section VI.—Plans.
Section VII.—Appendices.—Bed accommodation; emergency accommodation;
unoccupied beds; orientation of buildings; internal finishing
treatment; ward dimensions; ophthalmic clinic; suggested specification of
a large laboratory for a teaching hospital or for use as a group laboratory;
economies effected by (i) bulk purchasing; (ii) standardisation of supplies;
number and position of telephones required in a 720 bed general hospital;
automatic telephones; steam boiler plants in L.C.C. hospitals; electric lifts
installed in L.C.C. hospitals and institutions; mechanical ventilation and
heating; accommodation provided or to be provided in mental observation
wards at two institutions; electric lighting and power installations in L.C.C.
hospitals and institutions; examples of lighting in hospital wards in L.C.C.
hospitals.
Thirty-four type plans and drawings of the various arrangements described in
the report illustrate in a general way the more essential requirements, relative to
one another, of the different portions or departments of a hospital. Each case in